A Species Reborn
by Flame of the Dark
Summary: With the Darkness growing in strength around the City, the last hopes of the Light, the Guardians find themselves losing what little hope they held. A Hive cult growing in power, Vex forces creating a new, powerful Mind, the Cabal legions preparing for a war, a Darkness like no over, but with the Fallen uniting under one lone Banner for the Great Machine's protection, hope exists..
1. Chapter 1

_Since I was resurrected, I remember nothing except my first encounter with these four armed aliens called Fallen, and how mercilessly_ _I killed them all. I had to survive, I had been dead for centuries,_ _and_ _this Ghost told me humanity needed me. I often think back to those first days, wondering, asking myself whether the soulless slaughter I commited was truly necessary. My fireteam members often asked these questions to themselves as well, but none of use knew the right answer. At first it seemed easy, but then we went to the Reef, and met Variks. The Vandal changed alot of our views to the Eliksni, and sometimes, I found myself deeply regretting the murder of those other Fallen. The Vanguard's Hunter,_ Cayde-6 k _new of our - I guess you could call them moral dilema's - and he honestly_ admitted _he regretted killing some Fallen after he met Variks. He offered the advice of 'Do what is right' which doesn't really mean much when no-one really knows whats right anymore._

 _~Tower, Earth, Home of the Guardians~_

The moon had set, and the City below illuminated with lights all across its vast expanse. The great white sphere floated above, the lights below giving it the theme of divinty. That great white sphere was the reason Humanity still stood. It's Ghosts, the Guardians, the Light. Three small things combined to create a weapon against the Darkness. The Traveler, that is what the white object was called by mankind. It brought them to a Golden Age, and it tried to protect them during the Collapse.

The Tower that stood firm, high above the clouds was the home to the Guardians, a place where the heroes of humanity could regroup, relax, and re-forge themselves ready for their next mission. It was buzzing with Light-Weilders, some new, some experienced, all going about their buisness, be it decrypting engrams, taking bounties, or just walking around without any idea of what to do. Curses and swears were in the air from the Cryptarch stand, Guardians displeased at how engrams they were giving Rahool were coming back with completely useless items.

A fireteam of three stood leaning on the railings, looking out over the City and the Traveler. A Hunter, wearing a bronze cape with a golden wolf insignia upon it, and a Hard Luck Mk52 Handgun in his hand as he inspected it. A Warlock, one of the rare few Stormcallers, was in the the middle, with a Kell's Bond upon his left arm, and ocean blue armour with shades of jet black upon it, and a Legendary sword upon his back, the Dreadfang, a gift from Variks. The third fireteam member was a Titan of the Defender Subclass, and, unlike his experienced Hunter and Warlock companion, his appearance consisted of random different pieces of armour, the colours of them being completely seperate and none-matching. He carried a Scout Rifle on his back, and, being the type of guy he was, he never called a gun by its proper name - much like the Warlock - and dubbed them something completely different, such as this Scout Rifle being dubbed "Dawn's Precision"

The trio had just returned from Orbit, after a long tiring, and very dangerous patrol on the moon, and they were now enjoying the peace of the Tower. The Titan pulled out a Mote of Light, playing around with it in boredom, while the Hunter inspected his Handgun and the Warlock just watched the Titan in amusement. A chuckle followed a cuss as the Titan accidently imbued his Mote of Light into his form, wasting it's effects on his armour. "That was my last Mote as well"

With a shake of his head the Warlock left to speak with Ikora and the Vanguard, leaving the Hunter and Titan to go about their own buisness. With nothing to do, however, they went on ahead to their quarters, mentally jumping at the idea of finally getting the chance to properly relax after a week of patrols and near death situations. The hallway that led to their quarters was decorated with a red carpet, and orange patterns that matched the class symbols, down the centre, while the outline had smaller symbols matching each of the subclasses. Their room was, luckily, the first on the left, and while the Hunter, GoldWolf, sat down on the sofa to read some of his favourite written works, the Titan went directly into his small bedroom and faceplanted the bed, not even shutting the door behind him and earning an eye role from the Hunter.

The hours rolled on quickly, the trio enjoying their peace in their own methods. Stormlock spent his time lying on his bed and writing 'private' things, DawnWarden just sleeping and GoldWolf just reading. The peace was short lived when the Hunter's keen eye noted something strange within the Warlock's room, a Fallen Wire Rifle and Shock Rifle leaning against the corner. Weapons of Fallen, Hive, Cabal and Vex origins were strictly banned unless authorised by the Speaker or Vanguard - so he thought little of it, his mind assuming it was Cayde who let him. The amount of times that Hunter Exo broke protocal was beyond reasonable, yet his loveable nature and humour, and the fact the other two Vanguard didn't really trust him outside the Tower stopped any real action being taken against him.

A knock on their quarters door quickly interrupted all of their activities, and GoldWolf was the Guardian to beckon them in. As the door opened, the Speaker himself entered, two Guardians by his side, both equipped with The Dealbreaker Legendary Auto Rifle. The three Guardians saluted the Speaker as he entered.

"At ease Guardians" to which the three Guardians sat down, curious and concerned about the Speaker's reasoning to be here. It wasn't like him to call for experienced Guardians, unless he bore either really good or really bad news to share - and lately, anything remotely considered good news was scarce. "I come bringing terrible news, especially for you, Stormlock."

"What?" The Warlock was now terrified though he wouldn't show it. "What do you mean?"

"I regret to announce, your sister, she has been lost to the Darkness, her Ghost was recovered, but it's no longer able to bring her back."

At this, the Warlock felt power and hatred course through his entire frame, the sparks of his Arc charging throughout him. "Where? and what killed her?"

"The Ghost managed to share their last memories, and it shows she was lost on Venus, against the Vex just outside the Vault of Glass." That location burned deep within their fears, no Guardians that ever went in there came back out - save for the luckiest few. Stormlock, Goldwolf and DawnWarden went in with their own seperate fireteams of six, and none of them ever came back, except these three. In normal circumstances, Stormlock would be the first one to refuse any assignment even close to the Vault, but this wasn't normal circumstances. He was out to avenge his sister, or by every Orb of Light, he'd be lost trying.

"Lets go" the Hunter instantly took out his Handgun to show he was serious.

"Hell yea" the Titan joined in.

A grateful nod and the three left for Orbit, quickly entering Warp-Drive and heading straight to the Vault. Their ships dropped them off directly at the Vault, yet the first things that caught the Warlock's eyes was something that belonged to his sister, a small locket she always wore, something he gave her. Crouching down beside it, he gently picked it up before requesting his Ghost, Bolt, to store it. With an angered warcry, he blasted the ground with Arc, feeling the storm flow to his fingertips as he floated straight into the Vex group responsible for her death, the only Vex still here. The Hunter soon triggered his Golden Gun, rushing in and firing shots off at the Axis Minotaurs and Harpy's. As his Golden Gun bled dry its ammo and charge, he brough out his Handgun and continued to tear into the Vex, who were struggling to return fire.

Their mechanical whirrs and screeches were silenced with the blast of rifles, and before long the Guardians were standing surrouned by destroyed Vex. They felt no remorse towards these robots, they were machines built to kill, they felt no remorse against the Hive, foul creatures that live or un-live, based on how you see them, for Crota. It wasn't so much as killing Hive, it was more... Putting them back to the grave. Cabal? Well, they kinda blew up planets for getting in their way, so they had about as much mercy for them as they did for those planets and all life on them. Fallen on the other hand were so much different, they were more, subjected, desperate, so much more like Humanity than many cared to admit.

Feeling his body relax, and the anger and hatred fade as the knowledge her murderer had been, well murdered, became apparent. He wanted to mourn her loss, but knew it wasn't safe at all here. Not only were Vex forces at their strongest here, but Fallen Wolves could sometimes drop in from a Skiff on Skola's orders. How that 'Kell of Kell's' broke out the Prison was beyond anyone, more so that the Awoken hadn't even attempted to get him back. He knew that word would've spread quickly about her death, seeing as how she was one of the Vanguards most trusted Guardians, and even a known personal favourite of Shaax in the Crucible. "Lets head home"


	2. Chapter 2: The House

Since _the Whiplash tore apart the proud Eliksni, we have fought, scavenged, and gave up hope, honour, and even our families for our survival. Once, we were a great united species, a species raised up by The Great Machine, now, since it left us, we have fallen, fallen deep into a pit from which even the Kell's struggle to raise up from. Civil war between the Houses, and the harsh treatments from the higher ranking Fallen have made out hopes of becoming Eliksni once more fade. If a team of three Guardians could kill Draksis, the Winter Kell, and capture Notorious Skola's, Wolf Kell of Kell's, what chance did our Dreg's, Vandals, and Servitors have? None._

~Earth, Unknown Location, Fallen territory~

Throughout the many winding tunnels and corridors, Fallen forces were moving, from the low Dreg's to the Baron's and Captains of the Devil House. Food was low, Ether - the precious life-gas for Eliksni - was in low supply, and morale was even lower. Of late Devil's fate had been grim; first, Riksis, their Archon, was slain by a lone Guardian, and not even a month later, a trio of Guardians stormed one of the Lairs and destroyed their High Servitor, Sepiks Prime. If that wasn't bad enough, the King's had been breaking in and taking their supplies, and then of course, there was the Wolves and Skolas to deal with, and even after they fended off against him, many of them were 'Taken' by Oryx. How the Devil's still stood was unknown by most, and they had their temporary saviour and newly forged Archon, Drakois to thank for it.

Deep within the heart of the Fallen Ketch sat a throne room, belonging to the Houses current Kell, one who had self-appointed himself and killed anyone who tried to stand up against him. Said Kell rules this House purely through fear, yet all Fallen knew he didn't deserve the title, Drakois, the Archon should have the rank of Kell. The throne room had decorative Devil House banners hanging from the ceiling, a large rectangular table with the Devil symbol painted upon it, stood firm in the heart of the large room. The table was surrouned by the highest Fallen Devil's; the Archon, Kell, and five Elder Barons: Drakois, Nixails - Devil Kell, Nakaniks, a Stealth Baron, Anxiks, the only Scorch Baron of the House, a second Stealth Baron, and two other Wire-Rifle Barons.

Nixails was seen sitting upon his throne, the Kell's Devil Scepter resting against his right side. The helmet was made of the same shiny metal that other Kell's were, but bore an interesting design, instead of the basic Kell helmet, his one was painted with the Devil's red colour, and the helmet itself had small metal spines that protruded from the front that formed the House symbol. He was listening intently and silently to the other Fallen as they argued about ways to sercure their House's survival. It was the task of Baron's to ensure their troops were ready for combat, it was the Archon's job to ensure their Servitors were being well kept and in good condition, yet it was the Kell's duty to protect his House and ensure they had the supplies they so desperately needed.

The enraged fist of a Baron slammed upon the table. "You would sell the House as slaves to Kings!"

The first Baron countered towards his enraged brother. "Our House is greater in number than Kings, they would not hope to enslave us all without fear of conflict."

At this the Archon spoke up "But Nakaniks, you forget, House Kings is possibly the most tactical House, we cannot hope to defend against them. Nixails, you have remained silent throughout the entirity of this discussion, what is on your mind Kell?" The Archon was one of the few Fallen Devils who still shown respect for the House leader.

The Kell remained silent, wondering of the different possibilities and weighing the different possible outcomes. Other Houses would use them as slaves, Winter had supplies however and no Kell, and no House had trust for Skolas after the betrayal of Twilight Gap, and, to his knowledge, even many Wolves themselves distrusted the Kell, and some had even fled to join different Houses, or had gone rouge. Obtaining supplies from Winter was the most reasonable choice, but it was still a great risk to dispatch Fallen to Venus to infiltrate Winter's Ketch and the Cave lair to obtain these supplies. "I fear the only choice we have at this time is to steal from Winter."

"Steal from Winter? Nixails, Winter will undoubtedly be highly defended and fortified now after Skolas and the Taken war. Our Devils cannot hope to obtain supplies and escape with them. You would be knowingly sending them straight to death" The Kell growled softly beneath his breath towards the Archon. Since the day he became Kell, Drakois had been constantly trying to turn Devils against him, and was clever enough to not create a riot against him directly until he had more than enough Devil's by his side, most likely the entire House. The sooner he could banish him the better.

Before their discussion could continue anymore, the entrance opened as a Devil Captain entered with a bow to the higher members. "Varnsis, what brings you here?"

"Great Kell, Tanisiks, the Baron guarding the entrance to the skywatch, he has fallen to many Hive. His daughter, Ninikas, has been elected as his successor" Just then, the young female Eliksni stepped through the doorway, wearing a classic Baroness armour set that she hadn't yet grown into. A Wire Rifle appeared her weapon of choice, and she bore the shock blade that once belonged to her father. Despite all faces being hidden beneath a helmet of metal, she could feel the sympathetic gazes of her fellow Fallen on her. Ninikas was the youngest Baroness in Devil history, having only just turned the human equivalent of seventeen, whereas all other Barons would've atleast been - in human years - thirty.

She kneeled before them, then rose and took her place beside the Archon, who placed a hand of his on her shoulder out of sympathy for her loss. Tanisiks was a close friend to Drakois, and he had known Ninikas since she hatched, he was like an uncle to her, and with her dads loss, he was officially all she had left. The Archon could feel a glare upon him from the Kell's direction, a glare upon both him and the young girl beside him, only furthering to fuel the Archon's distrust of Nixails, and his protective instinct for Ninikas. With a glare back at the House leader, the two had a silent conversation, unnerving the Fallen who watched the silent stare between the two towering giants. The silent was disrupted by the hissing of Ether and a soft snarl from the young female, snapping the two giants from their soundless arguement. Devils were breaking, and no-one knew if they could be saved.


	3. Chapter 3: Ninikas

Ninikas stormed into her quarters, Ether hissing and her manibles clicking violently, and with a scream of pure untamed anger, she picked up a Shock Rifle and chucked it with such force it broke apart upon connecting with the wall of her room. The next poor unfortunate object to suffer the Baroness' wrath was a Wire Rifle, snapped cleanly in half over her knee without a grunt of effort being exerted from the female. With a deep intake of Ether, she calmed herself temporarily, placing her own weapons in their designated spaces before resting upon the elevated fabric platform of her bed. Her two upper arms she laid her head into the hands of, while her lower arms just hung at her side, and in the new silence that overtook her quarters after her mini rampage, the sound of whimpers and sobbing became apparent. Everything was just so fucked.

She continued to sob, letting out emotions she had bottled up for weeks, all her anger, sorrow, loss. She never mourned her siblings when they were killed, she didn't mourn her father, the war didn't give her chance to. But now it did, and it was none too soon for her. What she wouldn't give to spend just a few more seconds with her little adopted brother, to hear her older sisters teasing remarks of her apparent crush on a Vandal, or to be hugged again by her dad. What she wouldn't give to see the Houses reunited, the Eliksni reborn and risen from the Fallen pirates they were.

She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, rocking slowly back and forth as she wept. It felt good to her, to cry again, as weird as it may sound, she missed releasing tears, she missed feeling more than just a soldier. She never thought she'd be glad to cry again, but she was, she was finally mourning the losses, finally letting go of what otherwise would've destroyed emotionally. A Vandal, one of those of her newly assigned troop, knocked upon her door and awaited permission to enter, which he did upon being granted entrance.

"Texikis, w-what d-do y-you want?" She questioned, her voice struggling to announce itself clearly through her sniffles and whimpers. The Vandal merely took note of her emotional imbalance she endured, and handed her something that he hoped might ease her pain, a reminder of her little brother. It was his modified Shock Pistol, similar to the 'Dreg's Promise' she had heard Guardians were using. The ammo magazinge had been modified, converting shots into Solar instead of Arc energy projectiles, however it still relied on the same ammo cartridges as normal Shock Pistols.

"Infernus?" She blinked beneath her mask to assure herself that her vision was not decieved.

The Vandal nodded before handing her the weapon. "I do not know where they found it, Baroness, but it is the only weapon like this admist any Fallen House" With that, he politely questioned whether he may be dismissed, or if she still had any use of his services; his response was of the former. Once the door sealed, she began to return to her anger, having cried her tears but still having much emotion to vent. Her grip tightened around the Shock Pistols handle, and within a moment of sheer anger, she fired shots towards her door, not at all bothered by the burn marks it would leave.

Her Ether supply hissed as the first canister of the Life-gas ran empty, yet unlike many who would have to rush to replace the canister, her room had its own private Servitor, and, in effect, her own personal Ether storage. Said Servitor instantly began to provide Ether to her quarters, simultaneously re-filling her empty canisters, before returning to its pod, out of harms way of the still angry Baroness. She got to her feet, moving closer to the wall of her room, purely for the purpose of sending her fist straight into it. For years she had done this, take out anger upon the walls of her room. The war led to her suffering from damages that couldn't be repaired; it led to even more anxiety that what she already suffered from, it made her less trusting, less open, more violent. The deaths of so many other Devils that she bore witness to caused stress and nightmares beyond levels thought possible for someone so young.

As she finally felt her emotions re-balance, she ceased the constant beating of her wall, instinctively looking at the fist she had used. Her armour was chipped, and some of her skin had cracked slightly from the impacts. Her lower left arm took hold of the gun, placing it on the small table beside her bed, then going to lock her door, remove her outer armour and hang it up; finally returning to her bed and sinking into it. The breakdown had drained her, she took an oppurtunity to rest as much as she could. Closing her eyes she drifted to her subconscious, reflecting unwillingly upon her life in recent time, as a soldier on the front line against the Hive, and the strange encounter she endured with Guardian Warlock.

~Flashback~ Earth, Cosmodrone:

The Hive swarmed her location, the zombie-like Thralls ripping limbs and flesh of the Vandals and Dregs. Their Acolytes tore them apart with those Hive Shredders, and their Knights... There was no way they could survive their Boomers and blades. Ninikas, only a young Vandal and eager to prove herself worthy of having her arms again, was now backed into a corner, cowering in fear as the Hive surrounded her. She had no Arc Shock Grenades left, two shots in her Wire Rilfe and seven in her Shock Rifle, against atleast fifty Hive. This was surely it for her, she'd never get to go back home, never get to see her Uncle, or get the chance to mourn her lost family, she was going to die. She brought her knees close to her chest, sitting down in the corner as she cried, shamelessly. No-one would save her, no-one would mourn her, yet she still wasn't ready to accept her fate. The Knight leading her murderers stepped closer to her, ready to bring his blade straight down into her and end her 'pathetic, insignificant existence; the killing blow never came. Instead, shrieks and gunshots took place, but she dared not look until all was silent again. When finally she found the courage to look at her surroundings again, she saw nothing but a lone figure, a Guardian Warlock.

Her breath hitched in her throat; fear flooding her soul. She had never been this close to a Guardian, yet she heard tales of how deadly they were, how merciless they were. She could only hope this Warlock hadn't noticed her. Maybe she could sneak away, avoid him. Just as those thoughts came into her mind, she ignored them as the Warlock turned to face her, his Exotic Pulse Rifle Bad JuJu mere inches from her face. 'Shit!' her mind cried, her bod rising to its feet as she followed the barrel of the gun. This Warlock, a Stormcaller? She believed that was the class title for Arc enegy Warlocks, he had her trapped, yet she couldn't understand why he hadn't already pulled the trigger. 'His going to take me prisoner... Who knows what they'll do to me...'

"Whats your name Vandal?"


	4. Chapter 4: Forming Friendship

"Whats your name Vandal?"

Those were not the last words she thought she'd ever hear.. His about to kill her, and he asks for her name? Was it like some form of taunt to the Fallen? Guardians - Humans and Awoken for that matter, had strange ideas, though she wasn't so sure what their robotic Vex - or whatever they were called - were like. Steeling her nerves and summouning courage she didn't even know she had left, she kept her voice from wavering as she responded dully.

"My name is Ninikas"

"Ninikas?" He tasted the word on his tounge, finding it surprisingly different from most Fallen names he knew. "Ninikas? So you a girl then?" He sounded curious, did he not know female Fallen could serve in the army? Probably not considering all they do is fight and kill us. She nodded, her nerves still steel and her courage unfaded, body rigid and proud, firm.

"Ok, hey relax Ninikas. I ain't gonna kill ya, unless you try kill me first" She had failed to notice his rifle was now hanging loosely in his hand by his side, his secondary sidearm on his right hip holster, with the Dreadfang handle just below it. "I hate Hive, they killed a friend of mine a few months back. Ain't really got anything against you Fallen" He shrugged and sat down, completely shocking the Vandal. Was this actually happening? Or was she just having a very weird dream. He noticed her head tilt in confusion as she thought, and he chuckled slightly. "You're not dreaming" he played with his rifle, before putting it on his back while looking at her. "You gonna stay standing?"

She eyed him, fixed upon his form, his body-language.. Just what was this Guardian up to? It was actually really unnerving, and she took his offer to sit down purely to stop her body from shaking. She had seen and heard of Guardians before, but never came even close to one. Other Devil's told stories of them, some she struggled to believe - for they sounded to powerful in them to exist, or they just sounded made up. Were they made up? Some did talk of how some Guardians were so casual, even on the battlefield - to just sit down or even dance in the middle of a firefight.. If he could sit down so casually, this close to a Fallen, then some probably did dance in the middle of a battle... That would be something she'd willingly want to see..

"Will you relax, your body is tense, I can tell by your armour.. I told you I won't kill you unless you try to kill me first." Not wanting to annoy him, she tried her best to relax, but jolted in shock and surprise when a small hovering robot appeared from beside his head.

"Fallen!" It's mechanized voice cried, but it was quickly shushed by the Guardian.

"Relax Little Light... Thats Ninikas: Ninikas, this is Bolt, or Little Light, his a Ghost"

"I asked you not to call me that... And what are you doing? Talking to a Fallen! The Traveler itself would forsake your Light!"

"Not if it never found out."

"Are you serious? The Fallen are the enemy!" Something she didn't expect was this Guardian having a robot that wanted her dead, while he seemed to want to.. Almost get to know her.

"Yes I'm serious" The tone of voice shocked them all, enough for the Ghost to silence itself and go along with his Guardian, at least for now.

"So, Ninikas, how old are you?"

"I'm not really sure how old I'd be in your human years, but I think it's around 16 or 17"

"Thats.. really?" He asked in disbelief, to which she nodded slowly "Thats really young"

"I think I'm the second youngest Fallen to ever serve in House Devil's, the youngest was my cousin, Vanis, he was, 13 in your years.. He died in my first assingment with him to a gang of Thralls.."

"Thats rough" Her eyes widened slightly beneath her helmet. He had sympathy for her? He was the enemy! The Ghost, it still seemed untrusting of her, reluctant to accept his Guardians forming 'friendship' as some could see it.

"We shouldn't be doing this, the Fallen are the enemy"

"If they're so bad like the Speaker and Vanguard make them out to be.. How come she hasn't even tried to kill me since I sat down? She's had more than enough time to take her Shock Dagger and kill me" He gestured to the girls Melee weapon, one she had honestly forgot she had. "Can you breathe without a helmet on? I've never seen a Fallen unmasked before."

She shook her head and responded "No, not here, on a Ketch, Skiff or in Fallen Lair then yes, what about you? I've never even been this close to a Guardian, nevermind whichever species you are."

"Yeah, I can breathe without it, on Earth atleast. I'm a human" He lifted up his hands and went to remove his helmet, but his Ghost quickly intervened with another warning.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, the air in this area is tainted by Hive, your helmet filters it, and the Fallen use Ether anyway."

"Fine" He sighed and stopped, "Least you're not having a go about her being a Fallen anymore"

"This is still a bad idea.. It's not like you'd change your mind anyway. I know how stubborn you are, you give LC-13 a run for his Glimmer"

"You mean I gave him a run... You forget he was the friend I lost to those fucking undead Hive"

"No..."

She looked at the Guardian, asking a question long on her mind, something she'd always wanted an answer to. She never knew why Guardians and Fallen were at war, Cabal, Hive and Vex, they were understandable, they just killed everything.. But Fallen only attacked in self defence. She knew of the Whiplash, but didn't understand how that led to conflict. "Why do Fallen and Great Machine Guardians fight?"

"You don't know? No-one ever told you?" She shook her head and he signed. "When the Traveler, or Great Machine as you call it, came to Earth, we were raised to something know as the Golden Age, then suffered the Collapse when the Hive and other armies rose around us. It was the Fallen who hit first, destroying almost everything we had.. The Traveler protected the Last City, and helped us rebuild it.."

"We destroyed your world?" She asked, voice wavering. She never expected that... Now it was clear why they fought.

"Well, you guys kinda just took out some major cities. It was the Hive that dealt the most damage to us here and the Moon, while the Vex and Cabal just destroyed Venus and Mars." She nodded in understanding, before his Ghost began to become alert and on-edge.

"More Hive, alot of them moving in" He got to his feet in a second and was already aiming at the area they were approaching from, yet he averted his gave to her, and even through his helmet she could tell he was serious just by the angle of his head.

"Ninikas, get out of here. I'll handle these fuckers."

"No, I'll stay, I might be low on ammo but I still have a melee weapon." She smiled softly beneath her helmet, grabbing her Wire Rifle and standing beside him, Shock Rifle on her back. "Wait, whats your name?"

"Just call me Storm" Then, the shots rang...


	5. Chapter 5: 'Pack-member'

"Just call me storm" Then, the shots rang...

Undead freakbag after freakbag dissolved into nothing as his bullets pierced their skeletal heads, precision in every shot, and any Thrall that got too close was met with a blast of Arc that disintergrated them. They stood no chance, the Hive against a Guardian, but against the Vandal? She wouldn't last too long. 'Shit, gotta be careful, don't want Ninikas to get hit on accident.' He pushed ahead of her to ensure stray shots did not end up embedded into her body.

She had exhausted her ammo for her rifles, each and every shot landing a clean kill, and now she fought with surprising grace and fluency between each individual strike. Numbers were against them, however, and Ninikas soon found herself pinned to the floor, ready to be brutally tore apart and ripped to shreds, if not for Storm's quick wit and deadly aim with his sidearm. As he turned his back, however, from the onrushing Hive, he soon felt the firm foot of a Knight ram into his back, sending him flying into the same corner Ninikas had been backed into when he found her.

As Ninikas found herself once again overpowered by another Knight, Storm barely managed to draw the Dreadfang and parry what - otherwise - would've been a killing blow. The blade cut through the Hive Sword like a knife through a thin piece of string, leaving the horrid undead abomination to stare in disbelief, then turning to face Storm with a growl. "I think you pissed him off"

"No shit Bolt!" He exclaimed, barely dodging the Knights enraged fist as it rammed into the wall, denting it and cracking the surrounding part of the surface. The red aura around him took appearance, and he charged at the Warlock and sent a flurry of enraged attacks his way. If he had the reaction time, he would've ended the Hive there and then, but his shields had been bugging out for a while, and he didn't plan to get hit and killed against these things. There was still a Vandal here he was watching out for.

"FUCK!" The feminie voice cried out, pain coating her scream.

'Shit! Ninikas?' He couldn't take his eyes of the attacking Knight for too long, but he took quick glances for the female Vandal. He couldn't see her or the Knight, but there were no Thrall's screaming, nothing. Jumping backwards, he tried to summoun his Arc, but the storm wouldn't answer his call. "Fuck! My Light!" He flipped sideways to dodge a downward strike, grabbing the nearest weapon he could find - which thankfully was Bad JuJu - and doing an overly fancy twirl into a standing position away from the enraged dead-thing. Pulse Rifle in hand, Storm unloaded the entire magazine into its bony head, watching its body hit the floor with a loud thud, he detached the empty mag and replaced it with a new one, then grabbing his sidearm and the Dreadfang. As he looked at his sword, then at the Knight, he mumbled "Better safe than sorry" and detached the Knights head from its body with one swift swing.

As he looked around the battlefield, he spotted the Fallen rifles on the ground, and, in the silence of the aftermath, he heard crying.

~Ninikas's POV~

I felt the weight of the Thralls on me, pushing my body to the ground, their claws tugging at my armour, trying to tear through and rip me apart. I couldn't do anything, so I embraced my new fate and prepared myself for the most painful death I could think of. The Guardian wouldn't bother to rescue me anyway, we were - after all - enemies. Closing my eyes, I felt the weights disappear with gunshots, and I opened them to see the Thralls gone, or laying dead beside me. The Guardian? Storm actually saved me? I tried to warn him of the Knight, but my voice wouldn't announce itself and I watched him suffer a kick to the back that would've broken a Vex Goblin in half, but him? It seemed like nothing. The Light must've protected him. I rushed to my feet and grabbed my Shock blade, but found myself held by the back of my neck and lifted off the ground by a second Knight before I could take a step.

"Worthless vermin."

"Undead Freakshow" I quickly switched my blade between my lower arms, and rammed it straight into its chest, and twisted it. It didn't even flinch! I pushed my blade deeper into its chest, twisting it and trying in vain to kill it, but it didn't even notice the metal in it's heart, or where I assumed the heart would be. It growled and, instead of killing me, it planted its sword into the ground and crashed its fist into my chest with unimaginable force; I could feel my chest armour shatter and crack at the sudden pressure applied by the impact, and I felt all energy just leave my body. The Knight dropped me and I fell to the floor, a pathetic wheezing mess as I tried to refill my Ether deprived form. My shock dagger still embedded deep into its undead form, I watched as it casually pulled out the small sword and threw it to the floor, just within my reach. Still weak, I barely rolled out to my side to dodge the sharp edge of a sword aimed right for my head, and I grabbed my dagger, forced my weak body to my feet and parried the next attack. I was still too weak to fight it, for every intake of Ether seemed to provide little to no energy to my body. Did it really hit that hard? Did my lungs even function properly anymore?

I leaned back, feeling the wind from the blade on my form as it swung for me, and I made my first strike against it. A quick slash and his left leg was damaged, but not enough to give me any sort of advantage. I kept backing away, spotting Storm and the other Knight fighting in the background, and even the Warlock looked like he was having some trouble. Feeling the urge to help him after he saved my life, twice, I tried to push past my foe, only to recieve a backhand that sent me flying down the small hill and straight into a pre-golden age human war machine. "FUCK!" I screamed as pain rocketed throughout my entire body. I writhed and squirmed, feeling as though I was about to break down into tears from the pain coursing through my viens. I couldn't move, could barely breath, couldn't protect myself anymore. The Knight approached, blade poised for the kill.

Fighting against my body, I summouned any strength I could, restraining the urge to break down into tears from every tormenting movement of my limbs. I was not going to die to a fucking Hive! With every inch of my body, and every last drop of strength I could summoun, I rammed my shock blade right through its skull, going as far in as I could, to the point where I had even pushed the hilt of my weapon right up against the bone-like head. It collapsed the second I let go of the handle, dead and lifeless to the side of me, and my body fell back against the rusty metal surface of this machine as the pain overwhelmed me. I broke down into uncontrollable cries.

My body weak, I barely acknowledged the Warlock as he rushed to my side, crouching down beside me and summouning his Ghost. "Fuckin hell.. How bust up is she?" The robot scanned my battered form.

"Alot of the pain and the injury is in her back, most likely from when she landed on the tank. I think a Mote could heal her, but you'd need to take alot of its Light away, she's still one with the Darkness." I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but it sounded like that Little Light was trying to help Storm help me... 'Heh, you wanted me dead not even a hour ago.' My cries had long since grown silent, my breathing laboured and weak. I saw something within the Warlock's hands, something shining, and he appeared to be absorbing most of the Light it gave off. "That's enough" It commented, before storing whatever it was inside itself, then sprinkling a light substance all over my body, almost like glitter that acted like snow, melting the second it connected with my scales. Whatever they did to me, it was helping to ease the unbearable pain, it was restoring my form.

"I didn't know Motes could do that" I heard him chuckle weakly.

"The Traveler creates the Motes to heal Guardians, as well as unlock new potential for their equipment. In its pure form, that would've burned her alive, but, draining it of the Traveler's Light took that from it. Without that, it's really just a super effective healing item."

I sat upright, smiling towards the two brightly as my actions no longer caused me any discomfort or pain. "Thank you so much.. I'll never forget this." I was honest with what I said, I would never forget this moment for as long as I lived, I'd never forget Storm or Bolt, and the life-threatening fight. How could anyone forget making a possible friend in your enemy and nearly dying all within an hour? Unable to move freely, as I was still healing, I leaned on Storm - who at some point had grabbed my Shock dagger from the dead Knight for me - for support as I got back to my feet, and, with his help, I got off the 'tank' and back up the hill, the Ghost at his side at all times.

"At least you're not giving me hell right now Bolt"

"I'll wait until we're back at the Tower" I, for the first time since I can recall, actually laughed at that as much my lungs and vocals would allow, picturing it in my mind. An almighty Guardian getting shouted at by a tiny robot just about the size of his hand. I felt my foot land on metal, and I looked down to see my Shock Rifle at my feet, my Wire Rifle a step or two beyond. I leaned down, grabbing it with my lower arms while still leaning against Storm, though my balance was now beginning to return to me. Taking those extra few steps, I then grabbed my Wire Rifle, looking at Storm.

"What? He questioned, to which I gestured with my head towards my weapons, and he just looked at me, then my guns, then me again. I could tell he was confused even with the helmet. "I don't follow"

"Take them. You saved my life, twice."

"But still, I don't need to take your weapons Ninikas." I shook my head and sighed softly.

"I ask that you take them, Storm. As something to remember me by." I placed down my Wire Rifle and picked up a sharp pebble, writing something on the side of my Shock Rifle, then doing the same to my sniper. "These weapons have served me since I joined House Devils. Now they need a new owner. Please, take them as a token, and a reminder." He reached out and clasped the Shock Rifle in his grip, his Ghost taking my sniper and storing it, hopefully decently.

"What does that mean? The marking?"

"It means Fallen-Friend, Pack-member" He nodded thoughtfully, then summounded something from his Ghost after storing my Shock Rifle. It was a human weapon, with Fallen design traits, such as the little spines on the top, and the barrel design itself was similar to Shrapnel Launchers. He used another sharp pebble and carved something onto the weapon.

"This is The WolfBreaker, the word reads 'Fire-Team', it's our name for a squad, or Pack" I clasped the weapon, which was surprisingly about as heavy as a Captain's Shrapnel Launcher. We exhanged glances, and I muttered a quite mumble.

"Thank you, Storm"


	6. Chapter 6: Development

~Earth, Last City, Tower, Home of the Guardians: 16:47~

The Tower surface crawled with Guardians of all classes, rushing about between the stands and the Tower itself, some in search of the Agent Xür, a mysterious Exotic Grade Armour and Weapon provider, as well as other means of combating the Darkness. His appearances in the Tower or the Reef Outpost were shortlived, generally every weekend. Whilst the other members of the Fire-Team spoke with Xür, Storm headed towards the Hall of the Vanguards, wishing to speak with Zavala and the other two. The mouring of his sister had passed, but the grief was still near, however it wasn't to do with that, it was to do with the supposed new-recruit to his Fire-Team FellLight, it was apparently a Sunsinger Warlock, and he was curious to know more.

"Right, lets get this done please, me, Gold and Dawn got Hive to kill." He entered the Hall, and took a spot beside Cayde, whom he had spent more time with than Ikora. Hence why he was one of the few Warlocks Cayde actually had a friendship with. He recieved a glare from Ikora, but he didn't acknowledge it in the slightest. He'd pissed her off once before, and, safe to say he got his ass handed to him in the Crucible by her the same day... Three times. Cayde, on the other hand, gave him a friendly pat on the back much like he'd do to a Hunter, then averted his gaze to Ikora and Zavala.

"Right, now, as you know Stormlock, Ikora has chosen to assign a new Warlock to your Fire-team, a Sunsinger Awoken female, code-name: Blue Silver."

"Yeah? Zavala can I ask a question before you go any further?" Storm was not happy about this, his tone said it all.

"Of course"

"Why do I not get a say in this? It is MY Fire-team afterall." Ikora cleared her throat and sent a glare his way, before she spoke up.

"Because, Stormlock, I feel that it is necessary to assign a new Warlock to you, you're experienced in all three Sub-classes: Voidwalker, Sunsinger and Stormcaller, and you are a valuable Warlock, I trust that under your guidance, Blue Silver will become an experienced Sunsinger, ready to lead her own Fire-team"

"Still haven't answered my question... Why don't I get a say in this?" He glared at her, to which she returned, though not as obvious as the slowly angering Warlock male.

"You do get a say, right Zavala" Cayde more stated than questioned, obvious he was going to stick up for Storm, the duo were good friends.

"Of course, Storm, we are temporarily assigning her for you to train and assist, only for the following few mont..."

"Weeks"

"...Weeks, then you can decide whether you wish to keep her in your team or not."

"Answers already no" He kept true to himself, Storm would not take shit from anybody, in anyway, regardless of rank difference, or the possible consequences. It was the one thing that, somehow... despite sometimes blantant refusal of following an order he didn't like, such as taking on a new Fire-team member, kept him in the good books with Cayde and even the Speaker at times, though it did really loosen the ties and friendship with Ikora in particular, yet Zavala just tried to ignore it. Storm was one of the most valuable Guardians they had, it was him who helped slay Oryx AND Crota, and every Guardian atleast had a large amount of respect for him. It'd be a hell of an issue trying to exile or court-martial him, he'd have even the Speaker and Shaax on his side. "Why can't you find another team? I barely remember a thing about Sunsinger, why not send her to Fire-team Star-Fire? I know the Warlock is like expert Sunsinger.

"Star-Fire's already a full Fire-team"

"Ahh for Travelers Light... Fiiiiiiiiine" He groaned and leant on the table, head in his hands as he gave up, Ikora and Zavala were going to win, in the end, so he might as well get it done with... "I'll take her for TWO weeks trail, see how she fares. Two weeks. No more. If I don't like her, you're finding her another team. If she's alright, then she can stay... When's she joining?" He looked at Zavala, hope in his eyes that he'd say anything other than to do with this week.. Err.. Next week... The week that starts after tomorrow.

"She's got to finish some simulation exercises. I expect she'll be finished and ready to join next Saturday." Storm nodded, slightly thankful, that he'd have more time. Maybe he could watch her train, see her fighting style and weapon choice to give him a better idea of the role she could play should she stay in his team.

"Where's she training? I want to get an idea of what she's going to be like in the field." He mumbled to Cayde, who gave him some co-ordinates to which he noted down. "If I don't like her, she's not staying.. Clear.. She has those two weeks in my team and more if I choose, not you" This was mainly directed to Ikora. Many others would've thought Storm would be crazy, the way he acts, but it was just who he was, and, as much as Ikora disliked him, she respected him as a Guardian and a human. As he walked out the room, he met with his team-members and sighed.

"Got you again did she?"

"In a way.. I've told her I'm only taking Blue Silver for two weeks, to see what she's like and how she fights, and if I'm not happy, then they can find her another team. If I'm happy, then it's down to you guys, and if you're both chill, then I'm chill and she can stay - if she wants too."

"Sounds fair, so what you going to do now? When's she joining?"

"Zavala said next Saturday, she's still doing some field simulations. I'm going to watch and take down notes, I want to get a better idea for her team role. Goldy, you can lead while I'm gone." The Hunter gave a slight nod, before Storm called forth Bolt and requested they transmat aboard his fighter, and head to Cayde's co-ordiantes. "Right... Lets go see what this 'Blue Silver's' like." he deadpanned, and, with destination set, he began to course through the skies, arriving in around a minute at the slow pace he was moving. The landing gear extended and the ramp went down as he landed just outside the simulation ring. It was some Golden Age structure, though thanks now to clever engineering and help from the Traveler, it was now a perfect simulation zone for almost any battle scenario and planet location. Ok yes, Storm had ran the simulation too, and he wasn't going to lie.. You might use holographic weapons and fight holographic enemies.. But the fucking pain was real. A shot hurt like mad.

He entered to the room and was greeted by one of the staff of the sim-ring, who, after being told the purpose of his presence, led the now Atlantean-5555 shader armoured Warlock to the observation zone, giving him a full view of the simulation. He spotted the Awoken female on the starting pad, simulation armour already equipped and awaiting the instrustions. The PA system triggered with a long beep, then a voice sounded.

"Guardian Blue Silver, a Warlock Stormcaller has come here to observe you in field scenarious. His purpose is to survey you as a candidate for his Fire-team, and he wishes to see your combat style and weapon choice. Now, the first simulation: In the Cosmodrone, the Fallen and the Hive prowl and fight those not of their own, and you are caught in the middle of this conflict. Your location and the terrain gives you multiple routes you could choose to defeat the enemy. Show this Warlock how you'd handle this situation."


	7. Chapter 7: Training Problem

Head laid thoughtfully on his hand, he looked at the holographic aftermath of her first simulation of this session with a hint of admiration. "I'll admit, girls got some talent with a Sniper and Scout Rifle, but she should work on managing her Light better." He concluded, mentally, that before he even began to offically consider her as an addition, he will need to see her handle a skirmish against each of the four hostile factions, individually. Starting with the Hive, then the Cabal, Vex and finally the Fallen. Were the simulations able he would've had her fight against Taken, but they were not yet implemented into the sim-ring's across the city and surrounding the wall, and frankly, it was probably pointless now - seeing as how Oryx has fallen, and the Taken are more or less completely wiped out from the galaxy.

"Prepare a Hive Skirmish, consisting of all types, Thralls, Knights, Ogre's. Terrain, Moon three-five-fourteen" One of the personnel gave a nod, and began inputting code's into some form of control panel, changing the holo-map as he did so. While the map was changing, and the minions generating, Blue Silver took her time to Inspect the Stormcaller, with her Ghost, whom was studying her combat style, trying to learn anything about this Fire-team leader.

"Anything?" She asked her Ghost, who in response, squeaked in a slightly female robotic voice.

"Nothing, just that his code-name is Stormlock"

"Stormlock? Clever code-name" She chuckled half-heartedly, turning her attention to the simulation, now ready and waiting for her to begin. She took note of the terrain, displeased at the setting the Warlock had requested for her. It was one that made Sniper's fairly pointless because of the close quarters and multiple spots of cover, but it was perfect for Shotguns and Scout Rifle's, due to the mutliple flank routes. Next she observed the enemy holograms she could see, noting they were Thralls and Acolytes. "So.. Up against Hive grunts.. I thought he'd request a challenge." She chuckled, not noticing the Wizards hovering near the other end of the map, and Knights and Ogre's lurking behind the high mountains. The second the Simulation became active, she was rushing straight to the lone Thrall, dispatching it with a quick blast of Solar Energy, then, without a seconds delay she turned to face an Acolyte that had turned the corner and executed a clean headshot against it.

The signature Hive screech echoed throughout the ring as they became alerted to her presence, the Acolytes rushing behind cover while the Thralls swarmed towards her location, turning the corner they met with only the bullets that took them out with clean headshots, though, the whole time both Storm and Silver had the feeling something bad was about to happen. First, the simulation cut off abruptly, then the power to the facility failed.. Into darkness the building was plunged, and the Ghost's became the Guardians only source of light. "Whats going on?"

"I don't know Storm, but I don't like it"

Rising to his feet, he gripped his Pulse Rifle tightly in his grip as he scanned the pitch black surroundings noting Blue Solver was still in the empty ring, drawing her own weapons and now wearing her actual Guardian armour, rapidly flicking the direction she and her Shinigar Omolon Scout Rifle were facing at sounds unheard to Storm, who was now on-edge when his Motion Sensor began to pick up movement that was not registered as friendly. "Call City Sercurity and request some marines.. I'm picking up something on my scanner"

"City Sercurity, this is Sim-Ring four-seventeen, we're experiencing a complete structure wide power failure. We are currently accompanied by two Guardian Warlocks - one of whom is picking up non-friendly movement on his scanner - and he requests additional sercurity until systems are back. Please acknowledge." The movement was growing closer. "Hello? Please acknowledge" Closer and closer.

"Quiet" Storm whisper-shouted, crouching down against the chair as something moved right behind him, barely noticing him. Risking a sneak peek, he noticed the boney like form of an Acolyte fading into the darkness, unnerving him. Hive? Inside the City? How was that even possible? How did they get pass the Wall? The Vanguard need to know about this. "Bolt, record visual feed, Zavala and the Vanguard NEED to see that there are Hive IN the City" Storm heard a blood-curdling scream from the Sim-Ring worker, and he turned in time to see the poor soul with a Hive Knight's hand going right through his chest. "Fucking poor guy..." Creeping through the shadows, he soon met with Blue Silver, who was seeking cover from the watching eyes of two seperate Knights, both equipped with Hive Boomers.

"Storm? What are we meant to do? We're outnumbered, and the Hive are in a better strategical position than me or you, they have the high ground, and alot of them are sticking to the shadows." Her voice was quiet, and shaking slightly. Though she might've been a Guardian, with powers designed to kill the Hive and other minions.. They were on the inside of the City Wall... Any minions capable of slipping through defensive turrets and marines along the Wall, and not being destroyed by the Traveler's Light were not normal minions.. They were something.. Much more dangerous. In truth, as experienced as he was, even Storm was unnerved at the situation before them, for he had never thought it would be possible for anything to get past the Traveler. It wasn't like, just one or two Hive that somehow survived from a failed Tombship attack, this was a proper Hive strike force, atleast twenty in total throughout the Ring.

"I don't know.. Fuck.. Comm's aren't working... We're going to have to take them out ourselves.. We can't risk waiting for reinforcements, and we can't leave either, if we do the City is in danger." He took a glance around the corner at the two Knights, thanking the shadows that he kept him hidden from their piercing gazes. His Light wasn't charged, and neither was hers. Stealth would be their best bet.. But they weren't Hunter's, with their knives. They were both Warlocks, a class designed more for supporting the Titans on the Frontlines. This.. Was definitely going to be one tough fight, but, they couldn't let these Hive linger, or they could taint the area and block the Light.. Then it would be a real problem.. If they done that.. Wizards could rift into here and begin amassing an army right under the Traveler. Right now.. Their lingering Light was the only thing keeping the Ring untainted, and they, in effect, were the only thing standing in the way of a future Hive invasion.

"Ready?"


	8. Chapter 8: Shrouders

"Ready?"

"Nope"

"Me neither" The experienced Warlock chuckled as he peeked around the corner from which they were obscured from hostile vision. Those Knights were looking in a different way, backs turned and revealing a cloak of some sort, baring embedded a symbol of a Hive Cult unknown. "Bolt, get a shot of that symbol, Eris might know something about it." The Ghost without hesitation proceeded with the appointed task, capturing a clear image of the symbol while still recording his Guardians visuals from his visor. He drew his weapon, remaining low to the ground he made a gesture with his right hand, then proceeded over to the opposite end of the room and taking cover behind another wall, slinking into the shadows. Closely was he watching his motion sensor, crawling with Hive all around him on the levels above. A firefight would be tough in their position with the lack of efficent cover from any Boomer weilders or Wizards that may lurk in the shadow.. His storm was now ready, and so was her Sunsong, but even with their Light, the amount of Hive their sensors predicted were in the area, they wouldn't be able to kill them all in one charge, atleast they assumed so.

He took a second glance at the Knights, taking some time to better learn the embedded symbol on their cloaks. It took the appearance of a pair of Hive Swords, crossed over a Knights shield, and to the blades edges were trails being pulled from the surroundings, reminding the veteran Warlock of the first encounter with Oryx at his altar, whenever he pulled the Light from one of the Guardians. Should these Hive wield any sort of power that they could use against their Light, this situation would be even more dangerous than it already was. Pulse Rifle in hand, he heard the creak of bones come down the steps just beyond his position, light quick steps accompanied by soft growls, groans and hisses of a Thrall.. "Have to be quick Storm" Bolt warned, a thin layer of worry coated the mechanized whisper. Cocking the rifle and disengaging the weapons saftey, he rested his back against the wall he sought cover behind, bringing the butt of his rifle to rest against his shoulder as he took aim at the stairs.

"Blue, listen, Hive are already dead, so your best bet, aim for the heads - obviously - the rest of the body is more armoured. Also those Knights are a proper threat, and Wizards, if there are any. Once you engage, don't stop, and keep switching between cover as much you can, staying in one place will just be you signing a death sentence. If we stick to one side each, we can clear them out more easily, take our sides then catch the centre Hive from both sides."

"Got it... Good luck"

"Lets do it" Once the final word left his lips, the Thrall reached the doorway, its gaze locking onto his presence for the split second it still stood, before three individual bullets pierced its hollow head with the echoing sound of the burst fire. Screeches and words spoken in Hive-Tounge echoed throughout the once dead silent arena as the rifle's sound reverberrated along the metallic walls, alerting each of the Minions of Crota to the enemies presence. Seconds after the bullets rang both sides were mobilising, the Guardians rushing up the stairs and swiftly dispatching the Hive that stood before them with clean kills, branching off to each side of the observation and control level. "Shit" A curse fell from the elite Warlock as a Shredder bolt grazed his left shoulder, thankful that the shield absorbed the damage, but displeased it didn't absorb enough pain for his liking. Pinned behind cover, he sent rounds to the Hive Acolytes that surpressed his position with streams of Void energy blasts. Casting quick glances around, he checked on the rookie's situation, finding her in a similar predicament. Shots she sent blindly at her foes, keeping her head behind cover while she leant her rifle around the corner, blindly firing in their general direction. Screeches sounded admist the weapons fire, some of the many blind rounds landing hits and kills on the Acolyte minions.

"Storm! Knight targeting you! Move!" Blue warned, spotting from her position one of the nearby Knights diverting it attention to Storm's location, Boomer in hand and an aura of dead around it. Storm never had time to respond, for almost instantly after she gave her warning the Boomer fired, a blast of twirling Arc energy arching towards his position as he quickly dashed to a separate spot of cover. "Ya alright?"

"Fine, just watch yourself!" He ordered over the comm channel, feeling the void heat from another Shredder bolt roll off his armour. His HUD motion sensor was consumed with red behind him, Hive swarming the darkness with intents to kill. "So much for stealth" He mumbled, shortly after grabbing the head of an Acolyte that attempted to rush him, only to find itself gettings its neck snapped with a loud crack by the Guardian. Reloading with a fresh clip, he steadied his breathing and temporarily broke his cover, holding his breath as he unloaded a full magazine into the attacking Acolyte's, earning atleast three kills and the remaing two visible ones suffering serious fatal wounding. Following his barrage of bullets with a Arc grenade, he called down the storm on their position and cleared them from that small zone, pushing up to there he repeated as best he could against the next groups of Hive.

While the Veteran was making his way through, the younger rookie was finding difficulty against these Hive. The simulations were so much easier, Acolyte's died in one shot to the head, but some foul Dark magic protected these remaining minions and increased their resilience to damage by great levels. By now she had tossed atleast two Solar grenades right into the centre of the Acolyte group, inflicting damage and burn damage alike, but only one of the first elite five had fallen. "Storm, these guys just WONT die" She groaned, firing more shots around the corner, each landing but not having too great an impact.

"Summoun your Light, it'll weaken their Dark shields and make them easier to kill."

Nodding although he couldn't see her, she rested her back against the wall, closing her eyes and steadying her breathing. She felt heat begin to build all throughout her body, the Light from the Traveler coursing through her veins alongside her blood. Golden glows began to form around her hands, illuminating her dark grey gloves as she felt the Solar power within her. For her, time seemed to slow down as she gathered her power, sounds muffled as she felt her body be consumed with the Light. With a deep breath, she felt her gathered power burst forth and surround her body with a fiery golden glow, her form a beacon in the shadows, as she broke cover and charged head first into the Acolyte's, the sheer heat of her Light burning them as she closed distance, snapping discharges of Solar energy against them, scorching their boney forms and disintergrating them into ashes. As quickly as her power came, it drained once more, though not before she gathered what remained in her form and released a powerful blast of solar energy in the form of a grenade at the second group, wiping them all out with the explosion.. She felt oxygen leave her lungs with the last sparks of her Light, and her legs buckle beneath her as her strength failed her. Never before had the Light drained her so much, the power she had summouned greater than what she was accustomed to. Collapsing to the floor exhausted, she pulled her body behind cover as Shredder bolts from the remaining Acolyte's flooded towards her form.

"Blue! You alright? What happened?"

"Yeah.. I'm fine.. Just overdid it with the Light"

"You'll get used to controlling and managing it better in time.. Well.. Providing we get the fuck out of here.. Doesn't look like theres as many Hive left as I thought. My side is clear of Acolyte's, clear your side then draw the Knights attention, I'll flank them with the Storm"

"Ok, just, gimme a second to get my strength back." Leaning against the small barrier, she refilled her form with oxygen as the last of the minions closed in on her position, forcing Storm to break cover and call down the storm before she was killed. Bolts of blue electricity began to zap over his armour, his form emitting a similar glow as Light flowed through him, calling forth the Storm into his fingertips. His nerves infused with the Arc energy, his reaction time was now measurably increased, bolts of Arc emitting from his form as he felt his body become light, levitating off the ground with the Arc energy whirling beneath him. A final discharge beneath him and he floated forth to the Knights, channeling the Storm to his fingers before unleashing ceaseless bolts of Arc lightning at the back of the Hive, the glowing blue light consuming them as the bolts travelled across the surface of their skeletons, smoke rising from their burning forms under the intense heat. Stunned by the Storm, they could no longer fight back, and accepted that they were officially dead. "Kill the Acolyte's! I'll deal with these fuckers!" Blue gave a weak nod, rising herself up and resting her rifle on the top of the barrier, a fresh clip ready. A steady breath and she began unloading her rounds at the remaining Acolyte's, whom failed to retaliate in time as the Arc energy chained to them.

Near silence ensued, the only sign of life being the heavy breathing from the Guardians. Sliding down against the side of the centre bridge, Storm called forth his Ghost and requested it raise communications with the Tower. "Blue, contact Central Sercurity and request a force to this place, I'll contact the Tower." The younger warlock nodded, proceeding with her appointed task.

"Stormlock? What is it?" Ikora's voice sounded on the other end of the comm channel, curious but also annoyed.

"Is Zavala and Cayde there?"

"Yes"

"Put me on open speaker." A second passed with silence, before Ikora continued.

"You're on, now, whats the problem?"

"The problem is that me and Blue just had a goddamn fight with Hive INSIDE the City wall.. I don't know what, or who, or how, but the two Knights leading them had this symbol of their cloaks." Without needing to be told, Bolt transmitted the HUD capture of the symbol to them.

"Eris!" He heard Cayde in the background, followed by the Hive experts voice, however her tone was unclear over the comm channel. "Right.. So basically.. Eris said their part of a small but very powerful Hive cult she learnt about, called Shrouders.. Apparently they are able to shroud themselves so that the Traveler's Light can't find and burn them, unless it's channelled by a Guardian.. A bit like Oryx.. The cult is the smallest of all Hive cults.. So they're the least likely to return for another attack."

"So.. How do we stop them from getting back in?" Zavala questioned in the background.

"They should not return to the City, their numbers are low, and for a Hive to become a Shrouded, it would take many years. They will not risk their few Shrouders on another attack.. Not unless they can block the Traveler's Light."

Cayde chuckled, "Sounds like you just saved our asses again Storm. Now, get back to the Tower, we want a full de-brief."

"On my way." Storm rose to his feet, noting that Blue Silver was also finishing her own communication chat and doing the same. Shrugging, he beckoned her over. "You know, for a rookie, you held your ground pretty well there.. How you feel about joining my Fire-Team?"

"I haven't even finished training."

Storm let out another chuckle, patting her shoulder in goodwill. "You just helped fuck up a Hive cult group and save the City, Tower, every Guardian and even the Traveler... I think you're more than ready." He turned on his heel and made his way towards the exit, Blue following close behind, greeting the sercurity team that met them at the main entrance.


	9. Chapter 9: Guardians Quarters

~Earth, Tower Of The Guardians - Guardian Room's, 21:49~

Gold had always been cautious and skeptical of Stormlock, but he respected the experienced Fire-team leader. Since he took to the Cosmodrone alone he had came back slightly different, well, by that, Bolt and him were seemingly at odds with each other. Storm had recently taken more visits to the Reef Outpost to see Variks alot aswell, and he was very reluctant to participate in the Prison Fallen rounds. All three of them didn't like killing the Fallen, that was true, but Storm almost refused to even enter the Fallen Chamber.

Curiousity had definitely piqued within Gold, especially about the context of whatever Storm was writing, he'd write it out, put it aside, then it would just, disappear with Storm when he left his room. The Hunter was determined to find out just what it was, but how was he meant to do that? Currently, Storm was with the Vanguard, talking about the Shrouder attack and Blue Silver, with the Sunsinger also present. Dawn, the Titan was no doubt having yet another arguement with another Titan over whose better at finishing Bounties. The Titan prided himself on being one of the best Bounty Guardians, having only disbanded Bounties of obtaining Solar Element ability kills, as he hadn't became one with the Solar energy to become a Sunbreaker.

Deciding he would need to figure out Storm sooner or later, to put these borderline suspicions and curious, perhaps traitors thoughts to rest, he entered the Warlocks personal room and began searching for any type of clues. He knew there was something up, he knew that there was something Storm was hiding from them, and it wasn't good if they found out. These suspicions may have originally been built on nothing, but lately there was some groundwork he was building up from. Ever since he first started writing these 'notes' strikes against the Fallen on Earth, mainly House Devils had been less successful. Not that Guardians had been lost, but that the strikes or attacks were turning up pointless results.

As well as that, routine patrols across the entire of the Cosmodrone had rarely encountered any Fallen of the House of Devils, which was more than enough for Gold to feel justified in searching Storm's room for clues. It was too much of a coincidence for the Hunter's liking. He couldn't follow someone he had suspicions about, especially when those suspicions were about Storm's true loyalty. The Warlock had a either a gift or a curse, depending on how Guardians viewed it, he could remember small parts of his past, his family, his life before the Darkness, he could remember small bits of his old life, like he hadn't been dead for decades, perhaps centuries. It was how he knew about his sister, how he knew about parts of history that few others knew about. He even knew his real age, he was only eight-teen when he died. Do Guardians age? Was he still technically still eight-teen or had he grown older?

"C'mon, there has to be something" The Hunter growled, annoyed at the lack of clues. Was his thoughts misplaced? He would acknowledge that he may be acting on purely thoughts with no evidence to back them up, that he was simply wasting time trying to get proof for himself that Storm had betrayed them in someway. The concept was almost funny when Gold actually thought about it. Storm had never disappointed the Vanguard, he had followed almost every order, but he had naturally refused any assignments involving the Vault Of Glass, not to mention he and Ikora frequently seemed to test each others patience.

The Shatterwhite Hunter wasn't alone any longer, a presence was felt behind him.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Dawns tired yet curious voice startled Cayde's follower into instinctively flipping around and throwing a swift throwing knife directly into the Titan's head, killing him instantly. "Oh what the heck Gold! This isn't even the Crucible!" Dawn's now woken yet slightly distorted voice echoed from the hovering Ghost at where he had previously died.

"Fuck Dawn, I'm sorry man, you fucking scared the shit out of me."

"Yeah, I could tell." Finally, the Titan had rematerialised out of Light in-place of his Ghost and old body; proceeding to rub his forehead where the knife had hit in a hope to ease the headache and dizziness felt when being revived. It was never something any Guardian ever felt affected by in the fields of battle, but when they weren't running and gunning everything they saw, being revived wasn't all that pleasent. "Now, what are you doing in Storm's room?"

"Looking for something"

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What are you looking for? Why are you even looking for it anyway? Why not just ask Storm?" Gold turned to the Defender Subclass Guardian, who was currently leaning against the door frame, one eyebrow raised as he awaited an answer.

"Because Storm can't know. Now, be quiet ok Dawn..." Gold hissed, proceeding to scour through the other half of Storms room, with the Void elemental soldier just leaning agains the door frame, looking down in dissappointment of his experienced Hunter friends stupid motives or thoughts.

"You're wasting time Goldie, anything Storm doesn't want anyone else to know about isn't going to be found. Whatever you're looking for might even be stored in his Vault. Now seriously, get out of his room, Storm's on his way back here." Proceeding towards his own room, the Titan delayed long enough to grip Gold's cloak and effortlessly drag the light Hunter into the living room, pushing him towards his own room.

"For Traveler's Light I think I had something then" Gold sighed, finally free of Dawns iron grip.

"Goldie, just chill out ok.. I get it, you're probably paranoid after what happened, quite a few Guardians are paranoid lately.. I mean, we're fighting a goddamn war, of course everyone's going to get paranoid.. Seriously Gold, just chill out.. You really even believe for a second Storm's a traitor?

"Yes" Gold groaned, saddened at the thought. Did Dawn have a point? Storm, Dawn and he had fought side by side since their forging after their individually, horribly failed attacks on the Vault Of Glass. "Lets face it, ever since that one lone patrol to the Cosmodrone his been different.. Didn't you notice in the Prison? He practically refused to even enter the Fallen Chamber. Not to mention the strikes and patrols against the House of Devil's are all turning up empty. Don't you find that a little bit strange?" The Titan simply shrugged and entered his own room, closing the door behind. Proceeding to do the same, Gold sealed his door and prepared to get some sleep, when he heard the main door open and two voices.

"Well, it's offical Blue.. You're offically a Fell-Light Guardian.. I think tomorrow we'll take it easy for proper field work, maybe a few errands on the fields to get you used to things. Easier to teach you how me, Gold and Dawn work together. Anyway, you should go on to your quarters for now, I'll introduce you and what not tomorrow.

"Ok, well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow captain." The door closed and Storm entered his room, not noticing anything out of the ordinary, for Gold had been clever and quick enough to put things almost exactly baxk in the same place. Masking his suspicion and doubt of Gold beneath a layer of trust and loyalty to their team-leader, he stepped out and walked to the door of Storm's room.

"Well, how is she?" The Hunter piped up after a few seconds, ensuring his tone didn't betray his loyalty. Storm had worked with Gold for long enough to pick up on acute changes in his tone.

"She's not too bad. Needs to work on handling the Light better though, we're taking her on a patrol run tomorrow. We need to actually test her in the fields, test how well she works with us." Gold nodded, despite the Warlock having his back turned to him, and silently agreed with Dawn and inner thoughts. Perhaps he was just paranoid, alot of them were. This war against the Darkness had brought reasons to be paranoid.. So much death, destruction, loss.. He knew Storm was trustworthy, loyal to the Traveler. There was no reason to doubt him. He helped lead them through the Dark Pit in their Raid against Crota, was there during Oryx's first fight, and even took part in many different strikes against the Dreadnaught taken and Hive.

"So, whats her setup?"

"Sniper and Scout Rifle, Rocket Launcher heavy."

"Great.. Another pyromaniac." Gold chuckled. "Don't you think we have enough Launchers in the team?"

"Flint and Tinder aren't Fell-Light members."

"They hang out with us alot on strikes or Raids. Might as well be."

"Well, we'll have to learn to have four Launchers and one LMG from now on, not three and two LMG's on six-man missions."

"Greeeeat" Gold sighed. "Least we'll still have a sword. Anyway, where we going tomorrow then? Cosmodrone? Hellmouth? Ishtar?"

"Probably Hellmouth, Hive territory. I got a few Bounties against the Hive offering some Motes and Strange Coins. I'll see you in the morning." With that iconic whoosh sound in all Pre-Golden Age and Golden Age syfy films and games for doors, the door of Storm's room came from the ceiling infront of Gold as blocked the Warlock from view.

"Fucking hate the Hellmouth." Dawn groaned, standing in the doorway of his room. "Theirs too many space zombies there." Simply shaking his head and sighing in both mock annoyance and actual annoyance, Gold entered his own quarters and sealed the door behind him.


	10. Chapter 10: The Moon Of Earth, Patrol

~Earths Moon, the Hellmouth Region, Hive territory; 01:45~

"And stay dead Flood rip-off!"

"Flood rip-off? What?"

"I don't know." The Titan shrugged, not entirely sure about what he meant either.

"Anyway, I think thats the last Hive Majors in this area." Commented the Stormcaller as he houlstered his sidearm. "Ya did good Blue, generated more Orbs than Dawn over there." He laughed, causing the Defender subclass Guardian to face him and glare beneath his Spektar helmet.

"Do you understand how difficult it is to generate Orbs with a Super that doesn't even kill anything?"

"You generate Orbs whenever the shield gets hit" Goldie piped up, slightly annoyed that Dawn somehow still didn't understand what he was doing to create Orbs. "You've been Defender for atleast two and a half years now.. How have you NOT realised that?"

Shaking his head, Storm exchanged out his Sidearm for a 1000 Yard Stare Legendary Sniper Rifle, looking through the scope towards the narrow pass that led further into the Hellmouth that almost no-one ever went there. He was curious to say the least, about what was beyond that path. "Just what are those Knights protecting?" He muttered aloud, his sights zero'd in on one of the Exalted Knights heads. The Knights were unique, reminiscent of the Silent Brood Cult that he had encountered on the Dreadnaught, but they were of a darker ashy grey, not to mention their eyes were Vex red, not the usual green. Gently resting his finger upon the trigger, he slowly pressed on it and prepared to take the shot, only to get interrupted by a Hive Boomer shot going off right to his left mere seconds after a rocket explosion right next to him, thankfully his Overshield that had generated absorbed all of the damage.

Quickly switching direction of his Sniper, he dispatched the Lone Knight with one single headshot, the Solar energy disintergrating the remains instantly. "He said stay dead." Was all he muttered.

"Storm? Little help here? Buddy?" He turned and looked at the Ghost that hovered in place of Dawn, amused at the sight.

"What happened?" Blue wondered outloud, her attention also shifting to the Ghost alongside GoldWolf, who was simply laughing at the situation.

"Dawn here.. When that Knight started shooting us, he decided the best thing to do would be hide behind Storm, who somehow didn't realise until the thing shot at him, and he had the wise idea to fire a rocket at it.. This is what happened..." Gold began laughing more. "Storm's Overshield took the entire explosion and Dawn just got destroyed."

"I thought the rocket would fly past him!" The Ghost echoed the Titans cry, a feeble attempt to make his predicament less embarrasing. "Not be like 'oh you want to get an Deathless Bounty? Too bad' I only needed one more kill as well."

"I would say I feel sorry for you but I don't"

"Yeah, you're not human anymore Gold" Instantly Dawn regretted those words, even though they were meant as a simple joke. "Shit Sorry man.. I-I didn't mean it like that."

"Save it.. Just resurrect and lets fucking go." The Hunter growled, walking off to the ridge to wait for the other three.

"Fuck Gold! I'm sorry man!" Dawn ran after the Hunter after finally being brought back, leaving the two Warlocks behind in an attempt to amend his earlier vocal mistake.

"What was that about?" Blue questioned, concerned and curious over the Hunter. Storm simply remained silent, mulling over possible responses before refusing to answer the question. Re-equipping his Sidearm instead of a Sniper, he holsted the gun and began walking off towards the other two at the ridge.

"Not my place Blue. C'mon, don't wanna keep them waiting..." He began jogging over to the duo, Blue keeping pace. He kept his eye on the duo he was approaching, hoping that the Hunter didn't leave them, either by ditching the group and returning to the Tower or somewhere else, or simply grab his Sparrow and race off away from them.

"Gold man c'mon.. Y'know I didn't mean it like that!"

"I said save it." The Hunter growled again, mounting his S-V3 Sparrow and completely ignoring the Purple shaded Guardian. A defeated, dejected sigh and the Titan mounted his own Sparrow in silence, his posture slightly slumped and saddened. The pair of Warlocks exchanged worried glances between each other, proceeding to mount their own Sparrows and line up beside the Hunter and Titan. An uncomfortable silence descended upon the squad, the surrounding air having traces of tension between the two non-Warlock members. "Storm, I'm done here... I'm going back to the Tower." He mumbled, still upset about Dawns earlier words.

"Yeah, ok, see you later Gold." Before he even finished his sentence the Hunter had already dematerialised and was now aboard his Starfighter, making its way back home. The three remaining members exchanged worried glances, before Dawn pulled out his own Ghost.

"I'm going to go patrol Venus.." Was all his quiet, saddened voice said, before he quickly followed suit and disappeared into his own ship. The remaining duo exchanged another worried look between each other.

"Blue, can you go with Dawn and keep an eye on him please, I'll finish up here and head to the Cosmodrone, Goldie will be alright, it's just Dawn I'm worried about."

"Yes, I'll keep an eye on him Storm" She nodded, waved goodbye and followed suit as the other two Guardians did previously, setting her destination to rally up with Dawn. Now left alone, Storm scanned around himself, before sitting down against a large rock and resting his back against it. The words of Dawns joke echoed in his mind. 'You're not human anymore' He wouldnt deny it was a little personal directed at Gold, but he couldn't disagree with Dawns comment.. Which Guardians were human anymore? Ignoring whatever stupid and foolish thoughts that were seeping into his mind, he rose to his feet again and departed for the Cosmodrone.

 **~AN: Hey, sorry this chapter is kinda short, just having a little creativity trouble right now.. Next chapter will be returning to the Fallen House of Devils, and Ninikas in particular as she goes on some of her first assignments and missions as a Devil Baroness in the Cosmodrone.**


	11. Chapter 11: Fallen Sanctuary, Part One

~Ninikas' POV~

Devils from my troop had gathered in one of the many hangers, Skiff's stationed ready for launch. Our destination was unknown, the briefing had not yet begun, however I was aware we were heading into the Cosmodrone and a type of rescue/reinforce mission, though of what I was skeptical. Why would they need to deploy a Walker as well? Our Walker's were few in number, becoming increasingly scarce for us to salvage them from our old homes, and were ultimately only deployed during times of dire need.

From the opening door, two Noble captains exited, accompanied by a Noble Baron, giving enough insight into our mission that it was indeed very important to see this task successful. Mutterings and mumbles whispered behind my back at the sight of the Noble's, not uncommon admist non-Noble's or Elder warriors. With a slight growl, I silenced the forces, who bowed their heads in apology of their actions towards the Noble's; showing my respect, I bowed before them as I would the Archon and Kell, my troop following suit out of the same respect. "Noble Baron, what is our duty?" By Fallen honour, we were not allowed to refer to Noble's by their name, only higher ranking Elder's or other Noble's could. The two Captains moved to my side, one female and one male, both gripping Shrapnel Launchers.

Now I understood this was deadly serious, Noble's and Elder's were rarely deployed, never mind accompanied by a Walker tank. Was one of the Sanctuaries in danger? Were our people at risk? "Baroness Ninikas." The Noble breathed heavily in some of his Ether, bringing to my attention that he was actually either old, or had seen too much battler and suffered to many injuries to be fit to enter the field again. "One of our Sanctuaries has been breached at the Wall... The Guards cannot repel the Hive onslaught for ever.." Another intake. 'A Sanctuary was under attack?' This was the most grim news Devil's could ever hear. We hoped the Sanctuaries would remain out of mind, the Guardian's never seemed to bother with them. They were our homes, they were our equivalent to the Guardian's Last City the Great Machine hovered above. They housed our children, our unarmed Eliksni, our families and birth-places.

"We need to deploy immediately." I didn't mean to speak out of line, but it happened on natural instinct. As a Vandal I had found myself speaking out of line, clashing multiple times with my troop Captain, but for that he respected me - these clashes had ended up saving more lives of Eliksni than costing them. I noticed the Noble send a glare my way, and I bowed my head once again out of apology.

"I understand, your eagerness to defend our people, but you must take into account.. A Hive Ogre has been sighted at the field.. They would tear our Skiff's from the Sky.. The Walker must be deployed or we will lose everything there."

"What are we to do, Noble?"

"The two Noble's will use their short-range teleporters to get inside the Sanctuary, from there they will join the wall.. Their Shrapnel Launchers will burn the Ogre to the ground, which then, you will deploy with Walker.. Good luck." With a nod, and a final bow of respect, the Noble's and I turned to face my troop, barking out orders of the mission and designating them to individual Skiff's. We hadn't even left the Hanger and already I could feel my heart starting to tug at me. What if we were already too late? I couldn't stomach the concept of arriving to the Sanctuary to find Eliksni, armed and unarmed, elderly and younglings, all dead.

I was stationed in the Skiff, accompanied by the Noble's and around eight Vandals, two Snipers. I hadn't obtained new Shock Charges for my weapons, they were getting maintenced, so I was forced to resort to Infernus, and an old weapon I obtained from a Guardian. The WolfBreaker. My troop had questioned mutliple times where I found the weapon, I just always told them I found it when I was wondering the Cosmodrone, looking for a Skiff rescue or a Pike I could use to get home. The Guardian had given me a collection of ammo magazines for the weapon, and his Little Light had gave me some schematics that I could utilize to redesign it's reciever and internal workings so it would work with Fallen Shock Cartridges.

I was inspecting my weapons, much like the rest of the crew, when the Noble's rose to their feet. "We're in range. When we contact, deploy from Skiff into field." I nodded, understanding their more broken langauge. From what I understood, these two Noble's had seen their fair share of battle, and one injury had slightly impaired their ability to speak as clearly as normal. Once they left, I felt the atmosphere of the Skiff become heavily uneasy. The seconds ticked by, uncomfortable silence as we hovered out of range of the Ogre, but not in a clearing good enough to deploy the Walker or ourselves.

"Deploy!" Their voice came over the Comms, the lone word instantly mobilizing all of the Fallen in the Skiff's. Adrenaline pumping, my weapons loaded, my Arc shield active, I was ready to fught and defend this Sanctuary.

"Now!" The Skiff pilot shouted, telling us we were now in a better clearing. With a deep intake of Ether, we began to exit the Skiff, dropping into the field of battle with our weapons ready. The opening in the Wall was lacking in defender's, and Hive Thralls and Sword Knights were swarming them. There was another pair of Noble's at the Wall, both dual-wielding Shock Blades and effortlessly countering and executing the Knights, accompanied by the Shrapnel Launcher Noble's, and we were holding the Hive back, but not for long. Knowing the serverity of the situation, we rushed towards the breach, the now-empty Skiff's staying to provide airborne fire-support.

"Walker away" The Tank dropped behind us, wasting no time it deployed the multiple Shanks stored inside it, all of which the little drones rallied to our side. I couldn't believe my eyes however.. The sheer number of Hive that were swarming up the shallow hill to us was immense, seemingly endless. Even with the Tank now blocking the gap in the defences, and the intense, endless barrage of Solar and Arc projectiles that rained into their ranks, I feared we would run out of ammo before this horde retreated.

"Hold! Fallen hold!" The onslaught seemed to never relent, the Thralls constantly seemed to be getting closer. "There's too many!" Even our Skiff's couldn't repel the onslaught with their mines and turrets, and our Walker was struggling to utilize all of in its arsenal; our troops were getting rushed, we were being forced to fight with our fists multiple times against them. Multiple Thralls had rushed towards me, only for their necks to be snapped, or the skeletal heads to be crushed between my lower hands. Our Shanks had been destroyed, some of our Dreg's and Vandals losing their lives to the horde. It was so painful, so mentally painful to hear them cry out, but I powered through it. This is what war was.. This is what survival was... This is what delaying extinction was...


	12. Chapter 12: Fallen Sanctuary, Part Two

~Ninikas' POV: Fallen Sanctuary, beyond the border of the Mothyards region~

"Do these defiled ever stop?" Another neck snapped, another twenty rushing to replace the lost one. I was certain just the increased numbers answered the Vandal's question. "Apparently not. Hey! Back in your grave." A unsuspecting Thrall was gifted a dagger to it's forehead, ending the wretched spawns life? Do Hive actually live or not? The horde had nearly passed our defences multiple times; I was ever thankful for the Pike and Heavy Pike patrol squads that returned to the Sanctuary and rallied to the Breach. Their extra Arc firepower was really making a difference.

One Thrall had attempted to jump me from behind, and it's attack failed so spectacularly. The defilement of an organism had jumped itself directly into a Wire-Rifle shot that wasn't even aimed for him, and ended up allowing that one Vandal to somehow land two hits with one. Must've overcharged the Wire-Rifle without knowing. Sending a gesture of appreciation to them with my free hands, I butted the stock of my rifle against a Thrall, knocking the wretch to the floor and crushing it's chest beneath my foot, thankful for the extra Ether I was recieving as a Baroness. The bonus strength really turned the tide in hand-to-hand combat against the relatively weak individual Thrall's of the Hive.

I don't believe any Fallen has ever been more thankful none of these Hive were Exalted, or Ascendent. These basic Thrall's were easy to defeat, but it was numbers that were making our defences break and falter. WolfBreaker had it's ammo bled dry, and I was already burning through ammo with Infernus, noting many other Fallen were nearly out, or had already lost their ammo, forced to use their blades. The overhead Skiffs were not only out of mines and ammo, but fuel also - having not been serviced before their rather sudden deployment - not to mention our Walker was completely depleted of offensive ranged methods. It's only form of attack was it's point defence Arc blast.

"We can't hold them. We need reinforcements!" One of the female Noble's cried, being forced back by the ocean of dead colliding against her. Those who remained alive fought with unmatched ferocity, driven by the same instinct I was. The instinct to survive, to protect the innocent. The adrenaline pumping throughout us was a massive booster to energy and strength, allowing us to rival the Thralls in some respect.

"Look out!" I never had time to react, I just felt the air leave my form, knocked onto the ground by a powerful explosion. Cursed Thralls! This made everything a thousand times more complicated. "Pikes! Target the Cursed Thralls before they get too close!" The same Noble to warn me issued the order that would ultimately leave the rest of us more exposed, but in return would keep the Cursed Thralls from us. Empty in Infernus too, I resorted to simply beating down Thralls with my fists. One fortunate minion had been graced with a very brutal execution courtesy of myself.

First, I ripped both the Thralls arms off, rammed them through it's own stomach and chest, snapped the Thralls head backwards, then used one of the impaled arms and removed it from the stomach, only to smash it straight through the Thralls head, then topped it off by ripping the remains clean in half from the waist. I noticed a few Thralls actually back away from me after that.

Another pulse from the Walker sent Thralls flying overhead, their skeletons disintergrating under the Arc energy. Following one of the flying corpses, my eyes descended onto something I had never gazed upon before. The Great Machine... Never before had I witnessed the Divine Entity, but I had heard about it, it's sheer size, it's power. Our Servitors had been built in honour of The Great Machine, but no-one knew why it abandoned Eliksni.. Did the new Guardian's steal it? "Please, Great Machine... Save our people."

A fools hope to think that the Divine would save the ones it abandoned, but I hoped no less that it would...help in any way, even if it sent a Guardian to destroy the Hive, but leave us alone. "Please.. We need you." I whimpered, unheard by my Pack over the screeching dead. Acting solely on instinct to check my back during a brief second of peace, I saved an unsuspecting Dreg from a Cursed Thrall whom had seemingly snck through. "Oh no you don't." A growl from my throat, I grabbed the Thrall and lifted it off the ground, using the Hive's very own suicider against them as a much larger grenade. "Say hi to Crota fucker!" I chucked the Cursed directly into a group of Hive, the glowing blue variation exploding on impact and clearing an impressive number of Thralls fro the onslaught, not to mention the Pikes that hit the others were breaking them up effectively as well.. The Cursed Thralls were actually working to our advantage.

"H-help!" A young voice screamed, catching my attention, but I couldn't abandon my post. The troop needed me.

"Baroness! Thralls have gotten inside the Sanctuary! Here, take this Shock Rifle and go clear them out. We'll assist the Wall." A small Pack of Fallen Vandals had arrived under a Reaver Captain, whom handed me a Shock Rifle and took up a defensive postion with his Shrapnel Launcher.

"Help!" That scream again, it was nearby. With a firm grip on the rifle, and my WolfBreaker and Infernus both holstered on my back and hip, I drew my weapon and prepared to engage any threats I encountered as I rushed to the sound of the screaming. It belonged to a young male, and it was full of pain and fear. Closer, the closer I got the louder the screaming, the more it transitioned into painful cries and the more it hurt my heart.

I turned the corner to be greeted with a sickening sight. The young Eliksni was.. Already dead. His lower right arm hanging by a tiny bit of flesh to his body, his lower left completely ripped off. Chest tore open, guts and flesh everywhere as three Thralls feasted upon the small corpse. I wanted to just throw up, but I steeled myself and took aim. Three shots, three precise kills, one innocent death avenged. Just how many more were there though?

~No POV, with Stormlock~

As the Warlock dismounted his Sparrow, the Guardian's Ghost companion suddenly materialised. "Bolt? What is it?" Questioned the Stormcaller, noting the Ghosts sudden appearance and, seemingly, intense stare in the far direction. Followin his companions gaze, the Warlock simply saw hills and terrain, nothing of interest. "Bolt?"

"I don't know.. It felt like something.. Or someone was telling me we need to go that way."

"Like who? The Vanguard?"

"No.. I don't know. It wasn't a Vanguards voice. Not even the Speakers." The Ghost was noticeably confused about this.

"Well, what did they say?"

The Ghost momentarily broke its trance to look at the Guardian, remainin silent for a few seconds before finally responding. It said something about saving the innocent, defeating the Hive."

"Well.. Let's go." Quickly disappearing, the Warlock mounted his Sparrow, boosting himself in the direction that his Ghost was so intently staring in, his thoughts occupied by his Ghosts strange behaviour. "We need to see the Speaker about that when we go back Bolt."


	13. Chapter 13: Unexpected Encounter

**In all honesty, I just thought 'fuck it' with my problems and I'll come back to writing - it's a good method anyway so y'know..**

~Earth, Cosmodrone~

From up above one could see the golden trail emitted from the Warlock's Aeon Glow Sparrow, the luminescent lights reflecting and shining in the darkness of the Cosmodrone night. For many hours the Warlock had been travelling via his Sparrow across the uneven terrain in silence, thoughts preoccupied with recent events. His fire-team actively tried to avoid the Fallen as much they could at his command, and their own decision, but no doubt did he have that Blue would not treat them the same way. After that, there was the fallout between Dawn and Gold - which had been brewing for some time with a joke tipping the scale only hours prior to current time. Top it all off with Bolt getting a strange message, and he has a great little story to tell.

"Not too far now Storm, but sounds like the Sparrow needs a cool-down." The mechanized voice of his Ghost companion resonated throughout the immediate vicinity, coupled with a warning beep from the Sparrow as it began to heat up to unwelcoming temperatures. With a nod of agreement, the Warlock released the throttle of the hover-bike, effortlessly bringing it to a calm stop as he dismounted and rested against it.

"When will this war end?" Was all he muttered, a disheartened expression hidden beneath his new Spektar helmet and it's blood-red glow; gripping his Bad JuJu in his hands as he inspected the Pulse Rifle. He couldn't recall how many battle he had bore witness to, how many times he had watched a Guardian die, be brought back, die, be brought back, die, so on so forth. Many Guardians he couldn't understand, the way they shut off their own humanity for the sake of the war, to fight as a simple weapon, not a soldier; he could not. Resurrected he was with scarce memories of his life, of who he was, and determined beyond anything was he to not shut that off.

"I don't know, we can only hope the Traveler will wake up to banish the Darkness for good soon. Thing's ain't looking all that bright."

"Well, nice to know you're optimistic." The sarcasm was apparent, but hidden beneath was a slight tone of acknowledgement. Things had turned rather grim, even with Oryx removed: they were yet to storm his Throne Realm and end the Taken King like they did Crota.

"I learn from the best." His Ghost hovered infront of him, the lightning blue shell's gaze fixed upon the Warlock's weapon. "You really think Blue's for the best?" The question had caught the Stormcaller by surprise, as never before had the Ghost ever questioned a decision made by Storm.

"Huh? What?" He averted his eyes from the weapon to his friend, placing the weapon at his side as he called part of the Storm into his hands, admiring the loyalty of the Arc energy to his call.

"I mean, Storm don't get me wrong, I trust your judgement, and she seems like a reliable fighter, but you sure she's going to mix well with you guys?"

"How'd you mean?"

"You guys have a pretty, unorthordox?" The Ghost stopped for a second as he internally debated whether that was the right term to describe the fire-team's style. "Way of handling things, she seem's a little more, organised and precise. I guess I'm just worried that you and her might clash." Bolt was notably concerned about this for no real reason. Blue Silver was the least expericenced of them all, she'd have to learn that being unorthordox and out of the box is the best way to get out of situations she'll find herself in, and she was, afterall, Storm's recruit, she'd do what he said - she was knowledgeable enough to know about Storm's status in the Guardians and therefore held subconcious respect for him.

Slightly unconvinced still was the Ghost, but no further did he push the matter as the Sparrow now had coolen down enough to proceed without blowing up randomly.. Thats a story for another day. Mounting the vehicle, and his Ghost warping into, wherever they warp into. The Guardian continued the long trek to the unknown destination.

~An hour of silent travelling - and one resurrection after the Sparrow went straight over an old mine buried under the snow - later. The Fallen Sanctuary~

Ahead the Warlock noticed the silence he grew accustomed too in the recent time had been broken by the sounds of battle. Hive screeches were assaulting his ears, with the sounds of Fallen weaponry faint admist the cries that made Storm wish his helmet came with a mute feature. Over the hill he crawled, keeping low to the ground to avoid unwanted attention, he stared at the scene before him. A Fallen encampment of some sort had a breach in it's border, which the Thralls of the Hive were swarming with great numbers against the outmatched Fallen.

A Wizard he noted lurked beyond sight of the Fallen, the source of the Thrall horde as it used foul craft of Hive magic to summoun Thralls constantly from an unknown source. A Shrouder Cult Wizard he realised, the colours of it's body matched those he encountered inside the Sim-ring, with the Thralls a sickly green. The Fallen he knew could defend against the Thralls once the Wizard summouner was dead, as the Devil's appeared to be holding the defensive line fairly well against the onrush.

Sticking prone to the ground on the hill, he ensured his figure wouldn't be noticeably by the pre-occupied Fallen, and that he could effectively destroy the Wizard and leave before they turned their attention to him, especially their Pike's and Heavy Pike's. Summouning his 1000-Yard Stare Sniper Rifle in place of his Sidearm, he rested the weapon against a small rock which acted like a natural bipod as he homed in one the Wizard.

Compressing the trigger slowly, he steadied his breath and took what should've been a killing shot straight to the head, but much stronger that he expected was the Wizard's unique shield, but unnoticed he remained none the less. Another shot he lined up, another bullet to the head and finally the shield broke, the Wizard quickly returning to the grave mere seconds after when a Rocket from his now equipped Truth to replace his Dreadfang.

"Well, thats another Group Heavy Kill Bounty done." Storm admired the aftermath for brief seconds, the power of three Truth rockets was almost unmatched by any other Launcher, save maybe Gjallarhorn or Dragon's Breath. "Let's get outta here." Silently he stored the Sniper and Truth, prepared to leave, not wanting the Fallen to target him after they finished off what was left of the Hive, but unexpecting was he of the barrel of a Shock Rifle pointing right at his face.

"And I thought Guardian's were meant to be a threat." The Fallen was female, judging by her voice, but she wasn't anything like Storm remembered her to be. The female was a Captain from House Kings, yet her golden armour was faded, looking as though she hadn't been in one of the Lairs for months.

With surprising speed, the Warlock drew Bad JuJu and pointed it towards the mystery Captain's own face, finger resting on the trigger with a steady aim. The Eliksni took a surprised step back, then faltered with her aim as it recalling a memory. "I knew a Guardian before."

The news came surprising to him, for so long he believed he was the only Guardian to ever meet a Fallen and both of them walk away peacefully. "You have?"

She nodded slowly, lowering her weapon as he did the same. "Yes, we met frequently at a place she called 'The Old Valley'." Noticeable was the change in tone, as if the female was saddened at the thoughts, but very quickly did she anger at him, with a growl she once again pointed her weapon to him. "Guardian's came and sniped her in the back of the head, destroyed her Ghost. Three Guardian's, one of whom was a Warlock... Just. Like. You."

Storm took note to the slight shaking of the Captain before him, processing her words in deep thought. Guardian's assassinated one of their own? On whose order? Did a Vanguard order it? Did the Vanguard know? He lowered himself to the ground and rested his rifle on the floor, putting up his hands in defence. "I swear to you, I know nothing about that. You aren't the only Fallen I've met and not killed."

She studied him beneath her helmet, clearly unconvinced. With a sigh, he mentally requested the two weapons gifted to him from Ninikas at their first encounter. Transmatted onto the floor infront of him they were, the side in which she etched the symbol in face up for the Captain to see. She kneeled down and traced the faded etching's with her lower left hand. "Pack-member. Was she a King?"

"Devil" She rose to her feet, giving a farewell nod as she noticed the Devil's finishing off the Thralls.

"We should leave." Her voice was the last thing he heard before she disappeared from sight, and, somehow knowing why, he mounted his Sparrow and took off back in the direction from which he first arrived from, his mind occupied with thoughts about the Captain and the news she shared with him. Guardian assassination? With the Ghost too? This must be brought to the Vanguard's attention.


	14. Chapter 14: The Vanguard Talk

His mind heavily occupied with the revelations from the King, Storm returned to the Tower of Guardians with his mind partly clouded in complete confusion as he racked his brain for any possible information he could from his own knowledge - yet so far he had only drawn complete blanks, not even any possible names. Assassination? It must've been a Hunter, Warlocks and Titans wouldn't be able to land a hit on a Ghost with a Sniper, regardless of their skill, but then why would Cayde order one of his own to assassinate a Warlock?

All Storm knew for certain right now was that almost nothing made sense - but what did in a world where you can come back from the dead thanks to a tiny hovering light-bulb? Finally clearing his head slightly, and bringing him back into the present, he just about managed to step aside as a Guardian came rushing towards him, jumping over the barrier and falling to the City below. "God damn it Storm! I thought I'd get you that time!" Gold's voice echoed from the hovering Ghost atop the stairs, moments before the Hunter rematerialised in his Ghosts place.

"You are seriously still trying to kick me off of here everytime I return from Orbit aren't you?" The Hunter nodded, his helmet still locked in place on his head as per-usual. The Chatterwhite shaded Hunter had never took his helmet off... NEVER, atleast, not infront of anybody. "Are you ever going to use a different Shader?"

He shook his head, and Storm could imagine the expression being 'are you serious? This one's awesome.' "Are you serious? This one's awesome." Well.. What do y'know... "What about you anyway, you don't even use a Legendary one. Besides, I got SO lucky finding this Shader outside the Vault.. I'm never going back there again."

"I don't think any of us are.. But I overheard the Vanguard... We lost another team attempting to Raid it.. All young Guardians who had no true idea what they were up against. And with Atheon messing with Time in there, they stood no chance at all against another Templar."

"Well anyway.. Where's Dawn and Blue?" His tone dipped in decible's slightly, as if he regretted something he hadn't done.

"Dawn left for Venus when you came back. I asked Blue to keep an eye on him... You guys really need to sort it out." The Hunter never replied, but the slight angel of his helmet was enough of a response to the fire-team leader that the Hunter was thinking about it. "Anyway, I need to speak with the Vanguard, I'll see you a little bit later."

With a wave goodbye, the Hunter ran off to see Banshee about some Foundry Orders on both his behalf and presumably a few pre-occupied Guardians - with the Warlock continuing down the stairs into the Vanguard Hall, a friendly greeting exchanged between him and Lord Shaax - who was currently relaxing on one of the nearby sofa's. Cayde was there, Zavala and Ikora; whom when she noticed the approaching Warlock gave him an impassive wave of greeting.

"Greetings Guardian." There was Zavala in his usual 'all-buisness' voice, to which Storm inclined his head in slight greeting, while Cayde was pre-occupied away from the table and his precious map, a rare thing for the Vanguard. Instead, the Vanguard was actually away in one of the small alcoves in the wall of the Hall, speaking with a Huntress that he did not recongize. Their voices were hushed slightly, which strangely aroused suspicion in the Stormcaller. Had he not returned with the knowledge of possible assassinations, then the scene of Cayde and the Huntress would've been entirely innocent, but now Storm couldn't help the slight tingle of distrust.

"May we help you, Stormlock?" Zavala had not failed to notice the Warlock's gaze was pre-occupied with Cayde, but he was clearly still paying attention as he instantly switched to the Awoken and nodded, gesturing with his hand to the Exo - silently saying 'Cayde needs to be here as well.' "Cayde, come here, Stormlock wishes to address us."

A clear, dejected sigh echoed from the Exo, and he quickly bid the girl a quiet goodbye and walked over to his place at the Vanguard table, sending a thumbs up to his friend. "So, whats the deal, Romeo?"

"I need you guys to clear this room, as in, everyone out, seal the door and all that. This is proper serious." Instantly the tone changed, the Vanguard exchanging worried glances between them, or in Cayde's case, a 'this is my worried face', even though it was kinda a struggle to tell with the robot. At a simple order from Zavala, all of the personnel left the Hall and also sealed of the entrance into the room.

"Storm, what's the problem?" Storm had no idea how to address this issue. This was a genuine serious allegation to make without any proof or evidence to back up the claim over than a Fallen King Captain. That would probably get him interrogated.

"I think we have a traitor in our rank.. I overheard talk of a Guardian being assassinated, including her Ghost." Silence befell them, each Vanguard lost in deep thought before Zavala spoke up.

"Where did you overhear this?"

"Somewhere on Earth, a pretty far distance from the Cosmodrone" He lied slightly to mask the truth. If he gave the actual coordinates, there'd no doubt be a strike-team sent there to investigate.. And he didn't want that Sanctuary to have to deal with three Guardians. "From what I gathered, the assassin must've been a Hunter, with two other Guardians, one Warlock. She was killed in 'The Old Valley'."

Ikora was noticeably confused about that extra part of the information, as was Cayde and Zavala. "The Old Valley?" She questioned, unsure whether she had heard the location correctly. Storm gave a quick nod and looked at her expectently beneath his mask. "There hasn't been a Guardian in The Old Valley since.. Well.. Ever.. We set up motion sensors throughout it and they've never been triggered, nor the Orbital satellites haven't picked up any life-readings in that location. Not even the Taken bothered to corrupt the area."

"Ok.. Erm, Storm.. I think too much time in the field is starting to make you a little paranoid mate." Was Cayde trying to drop the subject? 'Just what were you talking to her about?'

"No Cayde, I'm fine, I'm not paranoid." Well that was a straight up lie.. Of course he was paranoid, but telling them wouldn't make things easier.

"Well, you sure? I mean do you have any evidence at all?"

"Well, no, but what if I could find it? I could get Gold, Dawn and Blue and we'll check out the place."

"That's not necessary Storm. With all due respect, we have bigger problems right now than an assumption. You know.. Time travelling killer robots. Overgrown Spiders and the improved Walking Dead and their Taken buddies.. Oh, and the giant space turtles with guns and rockets." 'Why are you pushing this aside?' Cayde had a point; Storm couldn't be sure that King had spoke the truth. Kings were a tactical and knowledgeable Fallen House, what if this was a plan to sow discord in their ranks? You'd have to give them alot of credit for that... 'Just what are you hiding Cayde? Who was that Huntress?'

Not wanting to speak out of line and make accusations that could very easily be proven false, he simply agreed to Cayde's unspoken message of. 'Get some rest, clear your head.. Then do what you think is right' The Warlock left without giving them a chance to continue this discussion. Obviously he'd get nowhere without any evidence, but he knew Cayde was right about one thing. He really needed to get some rest. That patrol had took alot more energy out of him than expected, and running over an old mine and having to spend nearly fourty minutes trying to fix his Sparrow was a painful and extremely tedious task... Especially when his Arc powers kept discharging at the wrong time and short circuiting parts of it temporarily.

On a sercure channel he sent out a short message to his fire-team members. "Meet me at The Old Valley this friday, dead on midnight."

~That Friday, or would it be Saturday?~

 _Four rougeish Guardians, check. A never-before visited location and off-the-radar unauthorised mission? Check. Any actual plan on what to do? Of course not. Most importantly, Bad JuJu? Never leave home without it._

As the four Guardians transmatted from their ships onto the grassy surface of The Old Valley, a sense of dread became apparent. Almost instantly, Gold was gripping the handle of his new The Devil You Know, ready to draw and fire on anything not friendly, and Dawn was channeling his Void.

"Jeez, we only just got here and this place is giving me the creeps more than the Dreadnaught ever did." The Titan mumbled, not even shouting but Storm could be sure it resonated for a great distance on the unnatural silence.

"Storm, I'm still waiting to know why we're at Slenderman's home."

"Whose Slenderman? The Awoken female questioned, confused at the Hunter's choice of wording.

"I don't know, some Pre-Golden Age horror thing."

"I'm pretty sure Slenderman hid in forests didn't he?"

"Look, we're here because I said so. I overheard some talk about something happening here."

"Oh god, we're here to fight Slenderman aren't we?" The Hunter laughed, followed by a semi-irritated, semi-amused sigh from the Warlock leader.

"If we bump into the faceless freak then we can kill him, but that's not what we're here for."

"Don't say we're after Jason." The entire group, but the Sunsinger, visibly shuddered at the thought.

"J-Jason?"

"Jason Voorhees. Another horror thing.. Man the Pre-Golden Age must've been shit."

"I don't know, they had alot of cool stuff, these horror things for a start. I mean, I found one of their films called Alien. Holy shit that was scary as fuck."

"Ok, guys, c'mon, we're getting REALLY off-topic here. Bolt, do you have the co-ordinates still?"

"Co-ordinates for what?"

"For the reason we're here. Now, get your Sparrows and follow me. Bolt, set up waypoint markers on my HUD."

"Why didn't we just transmat to the place?"

"This is the only transmat zone in the valley. Now please, can you just do as your told and be quiet for a bit.. I want to sleep tonight you know, don't need nightmare fuel with Slenderman and Jason and whatever.. Got it?"

"Aye aye Cap'n" The Hunter mounted his Sparrow shortly after everyone else, waiting silently for Storm to take off in whichever direction they needed to go.

"Storm, why are we here? If you think something's going on, shouldn't you report it to the Vanguard? This is an off-the-grid mission without authorisation. It's breaking the rule of command isn't it?" Of course Blue was concerned with protocal and the actual important stuff that the rest of them, and Cayde, didn't care too much for. At the end of the day, they still got their jobs done and Zavala, despite being serious about all that, still appreciated it. Didn't save them a lecture most of the time though.

"Blue, you're working with a Hunter, Warlock and Titan who all learnt from Cayde that you got to do what you think is right, and be ready to face the consequences. If you don't like the idea of working like that, then you'll have to find a team that follows protocal." He didn't actually want her to leave the team, he was just starting to get used to having two Snipers.

"No, you're right, sorry Storm." He could tell she was still glaring slightly at him beneath her helmet, but he didn't care. She'd have to get used to it. Nodding to show he accepted her apology, he revved his Sparrow before blasting off in the direction of their target, the other three copying him and zooming after him. Of course Gold just had to be a show off and perform a fancy flip on his Sparrow.

"That would've came in handy last Crucible match Gold! Instead of you trying to side boost only to hit the wall because you misjudged the gap and then you got sniped. Could've won that game."

"Says the Titan who threw down a shield and forgot you can't shoot through them; you died first because you blew yourself up!" The Hunter rebuttled, laughing at the memory.

"You walked right up to a charged Striker thinking you had BladeDancer, then you pulled out your Golden Gun and got destroyed. That was such a wasted Super."

"You still remember that?! That was over three years ago!"

"Of course I do. I WAS the Striker."

"Yeah, then I sniped you with Party Crasher."

"You Blinked right behind me. Hardly 'sniping'."

"Still got the kill." The leader let out a low chuckle, casting a quick glance at his company. The Sunsinger didn't speak once the whole trip, even though the games they had played in the Crucible with her still gave some fun stories for her to tell.

"Storm, didn't you literally drive your Sparrow on a kamikaze mission last Salvage?"

"It worked didn't it?"

"Yeah, until they Self-Ressurrected. What did you expect against three Sunsingers?"

"What Fire-team only goes Sunsinger in Crucible anyway?"

"A team with an actual plan." The Hunter stated as if it was obvious. Silence ensued for a few minutes as they travelled the terrain, yet like any time they were moving a large distance, Gold just HAD to start.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

...

"Are we there yet?"

"No.""

...

"Are we there yet?"

"No!"

...

"Are. We. There. Yet?"

"No we are not!"

...

Silence was bliss as they approached the destination, until Gold broke it.. Again..

"ARE WE THERE YET?"

"YES!"

"Okay."

Pulling his Sparrow over, the Warlock headbutted his Sparrow in slight annoyance at the Hunter's antics. He never was one for long trips, especially when no-one was talking. As the group dismounted, the feeling of being watched creeped throughout their spines, destroying their sense of sercurity as they quickly readied their weapons.

"I wish he said no." Dawn mumbled under his breath.

"So, what're we here for?" Before Storm could even give the details of their visit, the Hunter laid eyes upon an identation in the dirt, taking the shape of a body. "Wait, I thought no-one ever came here. That looks... A few months old."

"What does?" The Awoken's stance eased slightly, but her voice remained on-edge as she eyed the Hunter closing on the identation.

"Thats.." The Stormcaller gestured to it. "Why we're here. An assassination."

As the Hunter crouched beside the remains, he ran his hand against the indentation, using some skills that to the non-hunters looked like pure magic. "Roughly three months old. Body was lifted by the arm and leg."

"How can you tell?"

"No identation to suggest the carrier dug his arm underneath the corpse." He judged the size of the shape. "Look's female, Guardian.. Warlock class." His gaze followed to the where the feet were. "She was standing up, facing that way." He pointed out ahead of him, to where a lake had remained somehow unnoticed. "Which means... Judging by the way the body fell... She was definitly sniped in the back." How was he figuring this out?

"Any idea what? Or where? The sniper was?"

He remained silent for some time as he scanned the area, then pointed to a small alcove that would've acted perfect for sniping. "There. That would've been a perfect sniping spot." Using his hand, he acted as though he was tracing an invisible bullet line to where it would've impacted, and where exactly it would've been fired from.

"How do Hunter's do this stuff?" Dawn was just utterly clueless, and he wasn't alone. Storm had learnt some things from Cayde, but this was a level of skill only Hunter's could master. Not breaking his concentration, he noticed fainter identations beside the body one.

"Wait.. Ghost shards? They hit a Ghost from there?" He sounded slightly admirable of the distance. "I don't get it though.. Who took the shot... And who was it who got shot?"


	15. Chapter 15: Act 2: Prologue

**So, as can be seen from the title, we are now in Act 2 of A Species Reborn, and our first chapter in the new Act will be following a new fire-team, Death's Promise. Just to let you know, before reading this chapter - go back to the previous chapter and read the extended part, then proceed to read this chapter. Hope you all enjoy~**

~Unknown Outpost, Earth - 00:00

Three ships approached one of the few holdouts beyond the City Walls, their pitch-black star fighters obscuring the stars in the sky, acting as a prelude to the Darkness. The fighters offered no light, no way for their targets to realise they were coming.. Until it was too late. The scream of the fighter's forward chain guns and the roar of the rocket-launchers echoed throughout the quiet night, golden strips of death rapidly approaching the wall of the base.

Exterior watcher's and sercurity droids were dissintergrated by the fire's of the impacting missle's, the painful cries of the living as they burnt alive in the scorching embers could barely be heard over the rumbling rockets. As quick as the bombardment had began, it ceased, with the exterior now sporting a massive opening in it's surface.

From the ships transmatted three individual Guardians, all adorning night-black armour that slowly turned into a blue/white mix as it descended down the body, their visors glowing, pure white lights in the darkness and weapons of the same design as their armour. A Hunter, Titan and Warlock. A handcannon of the same model as the Stolen Pride Legendary, an Auto Rifle with the model of the SoulStealer's Claw, and a Scout Rifle of the NL Shadow model, all night black to the white/light blue.

Their star-fighter's hovered above them, silently orbiting the trio of Guardians as they stalked silently towards the opening. The inital assault had worked successfully. The alarm system was destroyed, and so was their long-range communications, with the ships jamming the rest. The Hunter's gaze snapped directly to a survivor as he struggled to his feet; within a second the Hunter had slit the survivors throat with the spikes on his arm, the blood trickling down the corpse.

Under the rubble, a friend of his held her breath as she watched him slit the guards throat, unaware that she had already been spotted by the Titan. His boot landed right infront of her face, and she went as limp as a statue. The seconds felt like hours, but soon the Titan grew tired of playing with her and roughly hoisted her to her feet, proceeding only to completely break her arm.

The girl screamed in pain as she felt to the floor, and while she was still crying over her arm, the Titan swiftly stomped on her leg and completely crushed the bone of her lower left leg, proceeding to very quickly dislocate her other leg with a simple kick. She screamed her heart out, the cries of her pain echoing throughout the base before suddenly being silenced by a sickening crack of bone. He had crushed her skull by simply punching it.

They said no words, they made no sound, they were phantoms in the night. They truly lived up to what the Guardian's called them a while ago. Death's Promise. Footsteps rushed towards them from the base, multiple sets of armed guards rushing in a futile attempt to defeat the undefeatble. Seven individual soldiers, accompanied by five battle-frames, but to the Guardians, they were seven more souls to collect and five more wasted robots. Given no time to react, three of the five battle-frames were instantly dispatched by the Warlock's Scout Rifle, the other two torn apart by the Titan's Auto Rifle.

"Open fi.." He never even got chance to finish the command before a bullet went through his brain, the body crumblind to the floor in a puddle of ever growing blood as the other six quickly became corpses to the Hunter's pin-point accuracy. Seven consectutive headshots in the space of three seconds.

"Worthless." The Titan growled, kicking one of the corpses. His allies made no comment, wading through the corpses and rubble into the base. Two more guards were waiting for them, yet the second they were even partly visible they had bullets inside them. One had died instantly, the other was hit in the chest and left bleeding.

"Are you hurt?" The Titan growled, grabbing the back of the survivors head before crushing it against the wall. "That's better." One could imagine the sadistic smile plastered on his face at the sight of blood, flesh and even a hint of bone and brain splattered on the wall.

"Come on out! I see you on the radar. We won't kill you!" From behind a doorframe, a thirteen year old boy stepped into their sight, cowering shaking uncontrollably as he was met point blank with the barrel of the Warlock's Scout Rifle. One second, he was standing there, alive and frightened; the next, he had a burning hole of Void energy in his face, body limp on the floor and blood dripping from the wound.

...

"Fall back! Fall back!" Another body hit the ground. The trio of Guardian's had arrived at the main corridor to the command centre of the outpost, being met with alot of resistance - that they were very easily tearing through. Bullets ricocheted of the walls from the innaccurate weapons of the defending marine's as many fired blindly from behind the limited cover they had.

"Grenade Ou." An effortless shot from the Hunter impacted with the explosive, destroying it instantly and killing four individual troopers, scattering their remains all across the hall.

"My god. What the fu." They were dropping like snowflakes in a snowstorm. One every second.

"INCOMING NOVA BOMB!" They stood no chance. The Lance completely destroyed the entire group, including the heavy duty blast door that led to the control centre. A surprise greeted the Guardian's as two Titan's stood on the other side, accompanied by a trio of riot shielded marines.

"Playtime." The Hunter chuckled, tossing down a smoke and obscuring himself from their vision before rushing the group head on. It was a slaughter. They never even had chance to react to him; the second the Titan's even aimed down their sights, the three marines were stabbed in the back.

A single Golden Gun shot hit one of the dead bodies, combusting into an explosion that quickly changed into the Titan's; a total of nine other troopers rushed the Hunter, but each were effortlessly dispatched by swift knife work. A grenade rolled underneath the Hunter, but the effect of the weapon was completely wasted as he simply double jumped towards the nearest enemy, landing upon the female and ramming his knife directly into her neck.

The Titan rushed inside, weapon on his back as he decided to simply beat them down, with the Warlock casually walking through the door and sniping all of six marines on the upper level without any effort, each bullet landing a clean kill. As the Hunter dispatched another two marines with his knife, the Titan closed in on the last five marines and wasted no time in brutally murdering the group. Breaking all their limbs, then simply crushing their rib-cage or skull with his foot, only the last one got beaten even more.

As the crying form laid there, watching in horror as the Titan's foot completely crushed his brother's chest, he only imagined his fate. The monster simply stared at him as he walked over, fists clenched. Through his sobs he choaked out. "Please.. Don't.." It earned him the painful experience of having his arm ripped off from just below his elbow, closely followed by his other arm recieving the same treatment. His screams were quickly silenced and replaced by choaking, desperate gasps as the Titan idly lifted him off the ground by his throat, his grip tightening slowly every second.

"Any last words?"

"Go fuck yourself." _Snap!_ His body dropped to the floor once released. Silence enveloped the room for a few seconds, before they simply left via a transmat without even bothering to search the computer's or corpses for anything. Their mission was to simply kill. That's all they ever did. Kill. They lived for it.


	16. Chapter 16: The Fire-Base Fight

~Mars, Fire-Base Delphi, Eos Chasma - 08:45~

The Cabal Fire-Base was silent in the early morning, no Guardians around to use it for a Crucible match, and no Cabal dropship's flying past the structure. All throughout the empty structure, nothing moved, even winds of Mars didn't whistle through the open windows or corridors. Interceptors lay dormant in the large hangers, Harvester's and Goliath tanks patiently waiting to once again be used in the dark, unlit rooms. Armory's full of Slug-Rifle's, Heavy Slug-Rifles and other Cabal weapons, sealed behind large vault doors, and the command rooms were shut down.

Light's began to flicker on throughout the base, once locked doors now opening to allow things through. Dropships and tanks of the Cabal powered up, Legionary's ensuring the vehicles were in perfect working order, with Psion's taking the Interceptor's for testing. Hundreds, upon hundreds of Cabal began to pour throughout the base, a small legion in comparison to the re-inforcements sent from the Empire in light of the still growing Taken threat - even without Oryx. The many fleets of Cabal troops outnumbered any other threat in the system, Taken, Fallen, Hive, possibly even capable of rivalling the Vex if they pulled EVERY last one of their kind through to their time.

Command consoles powered up, and Vault doors unsealed to reveal the array of spare weapons. Centurion's, Phalanxes, Colossus', all different ranks of Cabal forces patrolled their newly reclaimed base. Thousands of them, all ready for battle, for war. Schematic's and holograms of hostile threats, hostile bases like their own were projected on the hologram table's. Images and maps of the Black Garden, the Dreadnaught, the Hellmouth.. Even plans for an attack on the Vault Of Glass, old plans to destroy Oryx - whom had now fled to his own Throne World.

Records were held from the Flayer's when they began to hack the Warmind, limited knowledge of where the many orbitial weapons were laying in wait to be used. They had nothing on the City however, other than the Traveler - but no knowledge of whether the massive entity still lay dormant or not - but they already had their plans for finding that information out. Let the 'Fallen', the 'Hive' attack the City and destroy themselves, if the Traveler retaliates, then they would find a way to shut it down, if not, they would simply take the City with brute force before the Vex did the same.

Outside the walls of the Fire-base, Cabal scout teams deployed and began their routine sercurity patrols. Interceptors mobilising across the vast red sands of Eos Chasma. A patrol of seven Legionaries had strayed too far from the base borders, and were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. The three Guardian's of Death's Promise had just transmatted into the land, met face first with the Cabal troops.

As the two groups stared each other down, a swarm of Taken Thrall's appeared from one of the forming Blights, drawing the attention of the Cabal as the Titan's slipped past, seemingly unnoticed as they climbed up to one of the rocks, granting them good visual vantage over the surrounding land of the base. The Hunter lay down, swapping his Handcannon for a Black Spindle model in the same, unqiue colour scheme as his armour and primary weapon. He aimed through the scope, observing the many Cabal as they clashed with Taken.

Taken Hive, Taken Vex, Taken Cabal slowly began to corrupt the area, at the centre of the force - accompanied by two Taken Cabal Ultra Ranks, was an Echo Of Oryx itself, leading the Taken horde. Through the scope of the Sniper, all the Hunter could see was the nearest entrance into the base, ignoring everything else.

"There you are." He growled, sights zero'd in on the head of a Cabal Centurion champion, leading a team of elite Centurions and even a Goliath tank in retaliation against the Taken threat. His finger slowly compressed the trigger, the bullet piercing the air, the rumble of the Sniper masked under the explosions and gun-fire from th fighting factions.

A crack in the Champion's helmet, quickly replaced by a hole as a second bullet impacted with it. Switching focus, he sniped the surrounding Centurion's as they caught onto his attack, preparing to rush their position and assault them. Now left alone, the Champion was quickly surrounded by a trio of Taken Wizards, corrupting him and slowly but certainly, turning him into one of their own, many surrounding Phalanxes, Psions and Centurion's following suit.

Leaving them to their devices, the three Guardian's silently made their way inside the Fire-base, meeting head on with another Cabal force preparing to exit the base to repel the Taken. They took aim, but the Guardian's remained unmoved, before the Hunter quickly made them all Vanish in Smoke, rushing out of sight against the more powerful enemy; leaving them to the Taken and Shadow Thrall horde that rushed inside.

~Cabal Command Room - Fire-base interior - 10:12~

The Hunter sat perked atop one of the supports for the roof of the command room, his Titan and Warlock allies waiting for the Cabal commander to arrive. The battle outside drew to a close with the Taken finally driven back, the Echo escaping on the brink of death, many hundreds of Cabal bodies littering the sands, broken Interceptors, even a downed Harvester that had crashed ontop of a Goliath. Their target was just outside the door, and once he entered, the Warlock would lock the room, trapping him inside.

They exchanged silent glances and commands with simple hand gestures, silence enveloping the room. All the bodies of Psion's had been stored in the furthest corner, and they waited patiently for the target. The door opened, the massive Colossus, lacking a Chaingun surprisingly, stomped inside the room, his eyes instantly landing on the Guardians. With a single tap on the command console, he was locked inside with the three; the Hunter above, waiting patiently with a knife in his hands, twirling it while he waited for his moment.

"What is the meaning of this?" The behemoth of a creature growled, fists clenched. The Warlock said nothing, he just simply pointed at the Colossus, then the Cabal leader was knocked back against the door by the sheer strength of the Titan's surprise attack - quickly being followed by the Warlock Blinking and landing a strong, void-fueled punch into his helmet.

Before the giant entity could retaliate, the two Guardian's had retreated to a safe distance, before the Titan charged him head on. Avoiding the incoming fist that smashed into the ground, the Titan rammed himself into the Colossus, sending him stumbling backwards, then followed up the attack with an armour-cracking punch right into his left leg, bringing the Colossus down to his knees, he gave a powerful upper-cut and heavily dented the helmet of his larger opponent.

Growling in anger, the giant grabbed the Titan, slamming him against the floor before lifting him up and ramming his other fist right into his chest, sending the small Guardian flying into the wall and temporarily putting him out of the fight. Still fueled by his rage, he grabbed the Warlock before he could land another hit from his Blink-hit-Blink strategy, and slammed him onto the floor, preparing to stamp on the small form and crush him.

Now was the Hunter's moment. Dropping from his hiding spot, he landed atop the Colossus and rammed his knife into his neck, the small blade doing little more than a cut against the enraged foe; before the Cabal could retaliate, the Hunter jumped off his back and dug the knife into his helmet, dragging it down and cutting through part of the metal, then once he landed, his elegantly rolled backwards into a crouch and threw a second knife into his chest, the blade digging right through the armour into his flesh.

Roaring with pure, untamed rage, he rushed the Hunter and crashed his fist into the smaller form, who just in time managed to roll aside and avoid the impact. Having recoevered, the Titan quickly moved in and crouched infront of the Hunter, whom used him as a jumping board and crashed his shoulder against the giant's head, landing gracefully on his feet opposite, he turned and slashed against the beasts arm with his knife. Attention diverted, the Warlock once again Blinked and planted a Void grenade right onto his back, then snapped a dark energy discharge before Blinking away as the explosive went off, forcing him to the ground, he was met with a powerful punch that sent him straight back his feet, stumbling backwards.

His helmet cracked and damaged, the Colossus stared down the trio with a ice-cold deathly glare, growling so dark it would send chills down even a Hive GateKeeper's spine - and those thing's can't be killed unless it's by a Hive Ascendent Blade; they remained unmoved and un-intimidated by his threatening demeanor. Pulling out yet another knife, the Hunter twirled the two small daggers in his hands, staring at the giant. The huge beast charged the three, swinging his fist as he approached but landing no hits. The Warlock had Blinked away, the Titan effortlessly gliding above it, with the Hunter sliding between the giant's legs and slashing both of them with his knives.

Unaffecred, he turned and crashed his fist down ontop of the Hunter, sending the cloaked figure to his knees before attempting to crush him, only for the Titan to interrupt with a volley of Solar hammer's crashing against his armour, one after the next - then coupled with a powerful Lance Nova-Bomb from the Warlock, and finally, Tethered by the Hunter's Shadowshot.

Unable to move, the Colossus simply growled with rage as the Guardian's began to continuously attack his frozen form. The powerful punches of the Titan in his legs and chest, the Void-touched discharges of the Warlock, to his back, and the Hunter's blade's digging into the flesh of his neck only fueled the enragment further and further; eventually he broke free of the Tether, backhanding the Titan and sending him skidding along the ground, his hands digging into the ground and his boots scraping against the metal floor with a horrible screech, he came to a stop - and then, with surprising speed, broke into a full sprint, leaping up into the air and punching the Colossus directly in the head, completely shattering what remained of the helmet and knocking him backwards.

The Cabal was surprised, to say the least, at the sheer strength of this Titan. He had fought an entire fire-team of Titan's before, and not even all three combined packed as powerful a punch as this one; he was proving a threat, even without his Hunter and Warlock friends. He stood facing them, fists clenched and his vision clouded by blood and rage. He noticed the control panel that had locked the door initally, and made a mental note that if this battle could not be won alone, he would hit that and activate the emergency alarm for this room, drawing as many of his troops to him as he could.

He charged at them, the Titan charging back; through the raw strength of his immense size, he crashed into the Titan and knocked him aside, grabbing the Warlock and pinning him to the ground. He effortless grabbed the Hunter when he attempted to vault off his arm, throwing his across the room with so much force, his back broke. Fading away into nothingness, the Hunter quickly re-generated from thin air thanks to his Ghost, full of fight. Eyes staring at the cloaked figure, he failed to notce the Warlock had Blinked himself free, and they were now surrounding him.

No-one made a move, except the Warlock. Utilizing his Blink to it's fullest, he coupled the evasive ability with kicks and punches, back to back Blinking himself out of harms way. Blink, a swift kick to his face, Blink again, ramming both feet into his stomach, another Blink, his foot made contact with the back of his head, the attack continued, the behemoth unable to retaliate.

Growling, he managed to predict the next Blink attack, grabbing the Warlock he slammed him onto the floor, before throwing him into the Titan as he leaped for him, then grabbing the Hunter and tossing him effortlessly beside the other two Guardians. They stood up relatively unaffected by the attacks, staring him down. The Guardian leader re-gripped his blades, turning to face the Warlock. "If you'd be so kind." Was all he said.

Confused, the Champion was unsure what the hooded enemy meant, but he realised too late and braced himself as best he could. A Void scatter grenade impacted on his head, the energy burning his skin and simultaneously activating a pair of trip mines that the Hunter had managed to attach to his back. The two explosions - coupled with the Scatter and the Titan's fusion grenade landing directly on his chest, was enough to overpower the large enemy, and he reached for the console, activating the alarm and lifting the room lockdown.

They didn't seem all that bothered about the onrushing horde of Cabal troops, for they still had a mission to finish. The fight had lasted long enough for them to be fully charged once again. The Hunter once more Tethered the giant, with the Titan bombarding him with countless Solar hammer's and the Warlock finishing the foe off with a Lance Nova-Bomb. Brought to the ground, the Hunter walked up to him casually, as if he wasn't recently thrown across the room with enough force his back completely broke, and playfully pinched the Cabal's cheek.

"Not bad.. Tell them who did this." Were his last words, carving his team symbol into a broken piece of the helmet and leaving it on the floor as a parting gift.


	17. Chapter 17: The Valley's Shadow

In the Valley, two Guardian's sat down, huddled around small, dancing embers that glowed against the shadows of the night. Clear skies above them, littered with stars. The other pair stood facing each other, armoured and weaponless as they began to circle each other. The Stormcaller stared down his Hunter friend, fists clenched, eyes observing for any opening in Goldy's defences.

Taunting his Warlock leader, the Hunter beckoned him closer with his hand, effortlessly evading the swing of the Warlock's fist and uppercutting him with his own fist. With the Warlock stunned by the surprise attack, Goldy landed a series of consective, light but still powerful blows to his stomach, ending the chain attack with a swift knee to his gut.

The Warlock recovered quickly from the attack, returning his own hits and blocking or evading the Hunter's attacks. Landing a blow to his side, he followed up with a heavy punch to his helmet, knocking him to his knees, he crashed his knee into his head and knocked him straight onto his back. The Warlock stood over him, thinking himself the victor, but proven horribly wrong when the wild-walker Guardian tripped him up, sending him flying a short distance with a kick to his chest, practically jumping to his feet, he leaped at the downed opponent - who barely rolled out of the way, allowing the Hunter's fist to crash into the ground instead of his head.

Using his arm, he blocked the Warlocks punch, pushing himself upwards he vaulted off the Warlock, then speared him and landed two powerful blows into his helmet. Growling, the Warlock got his feet and stared the cloaked one down, then tapped into the Storm to enhance his reaction time temporarily. The Hunter attacked with a series of kicks and punches, all of which were dodged or blocked by the Stormcaller, whom, using his increased reaction time, landed a series of blows to his stomach, chest, right side, and helmet, all back to back and nearly downing the Hunter.

A deep, infuriated growl rumbled in his throat, his fists clenched as he steadied himself. Crouching, he waited for the Warlock to make his next move. A kick, just like he was expecting; grabbing the foot mid-air, he threw the Warlock off balance and brought him to the floor, then crashed his fist into the lower jaw area, jumping off the Warlock once he had finished. Stumbling to his feet, he had no chance to react as the Gunslinger lunged at him, vaulting off him with a powerful kick, then using his Double Jump he propelled himself behind the team-leader, kicking him in the back before Triple-Jumping back infront of him and crashing his feet into his face.

With a groan, the Warlock was helped into sitting up by the victorious Hunter, who was no doubt smirking beneath that stupid helmet. Ignoring the seeping pain throughout his form, he unlocked his helmet and removed it, resting it against his side as he huddled closer to the fire, refusing to let his Ghost heal his injuries. "Not bad. Ya alright?"

"Yep.. Just great. My head feels like I've had a Sparrow drop on it.. Twice, but I'm allllll gooood." Laughing softly, he patted his friend on his shoulder in goodwill, taking a seat by the fire.

The flames illuminated and reflected perfectly off of their faces, helmets and armour, silently emphasising the contrast between them here, and them as Guardians; instead of engaging in conflict on the front lines, or the limited freedom and peace the Tower offered them, they were, for once, truly relaxed. No announcements, no ships in the distance, nothing but the peaceful quietness of the night - even if it was only for the one day.

All four were completely relaxed, as if the war they were fighting had just completely ceased to exist for that night. No emergency alarms were going off, no distant gunshots rolling over the silence, no evidence of a war at all. The Sunsinger sighed, laying back against a rock as comfortably as she could and staring up into the stars. She had short, silver-white hair that hung slightly over her left eye - piercing blue eyes as light as the sky on a clear day. She had a light grey-white, slightly roundish face, but sharp features, complete with no markings or scars of any sort.

Letting out a weak, saddened chuckle, she spoke. "You know... When I was a kid I always said I wanted to see what other life was out there besides Awoken... I didn't want it to be like this though."

The Titan simply hummed in agreement. He had a strong, chisled jawline, with sharp, announced features, and different coloured eyes - one a forest green and the other a hazel. He had short, auburn hair combed over to the right side of his face, and a single, faded scar running across his face from just above his hazel eye down to his cheek. "No-one ever does." He was laying on his back staring directly up at the sky with his hands resting behind his head. He averted his gaze temporarily to the Hunter, the only one of the four who was still wearing his helmet. "Take your helmet off Goldy."

The Hunter, who was kneeling next to the fire, idly glanced at the Titan and shook his head. "I'd rather not." He deadpanned, then continued to stare idly at the fire.

"You're really interested in that fire ain't ya." The Stormcaller chuckled, also admiring the dancing embers. He had short, unkempt, ruffled, lightning blue hair and deep eyes of the same electric blue. He had a slightly defined jawline and features, evident of a younger male rather than grown up. He was slightly pale, and had the faint evidence of a three clawed scar running down his neck. "Can't say I blame you." He looked at the Sunsinger, noticing that she was very interested in the stars. "Beautiful, ain't it?"

She nodded, humming an agreement alongside Dawn, not once taking her eyes off the star-filled sky.

"Y'know Blue.. You remind me a little of Nebula. She loved looking at the night sky too, especially whenever the Aurora's were there.." The Hunter commented.

"What happened to her?" She took her eyes off the sky and gazed curiously at the masked Guardian.

"Same thing that happened to the rest of our old teams.. The poor girl didn't make it out the Vault in time.. She got locked inside.." His tone dipped, choaking on his words. "I miss her so much.. So...so much." Storm shifted closer and laid a comforting hand on the Hunter, with Dawn offering a sympathetic glance from across the fire. "I still don't know what she would've said.."

"She would've said yes.. I know she would've."

"I ain't so certain.. You know what she was like." He chuckled, trying to raise his spirits a little once more.

"She was stubborn, yes, but still, she would've said yes. She wouldn't be stubborn enough to actually stay single, even though she did bet me ten-thousand Glimmer on it."

"How much? Ten-thousand?" He laughed softly.

"I wish, she actually bet me a bunch of gear, then she literally faked getting with another girl so she could dump all her crap and useless stuff on me then laugh in my face."

"She wasn't even interested in girls." The Hunter chuckled, definitely amused. "She literally just dumped ALL her useless stuff on you?"

"Yeap.. I didn't even get five-hundred Glimmer from it all, and it nearly filled all of my Inventory slots."

"She always was a crafty girl. You had to give her that."

"Didn't she trick Cayde into giving her a free Legendary even though she was a Warlock?"

"She tricked ALL the Vanguard into a Legendary for nothing, even Shaax... And she NEVER once played a Crucible match."

"I would've liked to meet her.. I'm really sorry about your loss."

"She was a good girl.. Little cocky and ended up needing to be Revived atleast once EVERY strike we went on but she made up for it with the Nova Bombs." The Hunter's fist clenched around the handle of his Handcannon, a soft growl emitting from his helmet before he calmed himself. "I should've waited for her."

"You would've died too Gold.."

"I know, but I can't help just.. wonder what was going through her head. What if she died thinking I abandoned her?"

"She wouldn't.. No Guardian in their right mind, or wrong one, would ever see that as you abandoning her. She was only, what? Thirty seconds behind you? You barely got out the Vault intime yourself."

"What is this Vault?" Blue questioned. She had overheard talk of this dreaded 'Vault Of Glass' but she had never discovered what it was, or what lurked inside.

"The Vault Of Glass.. Single-handedly the most difficult mission any Guardian has ever came across.. Since we first heard about it, there's been atleast nine or ten full fire-teams - not including our original ones - that have attacked it. Out of all those Guardians." He gestured to himself, Gold and Dawn "Only us three made it out alive. It's Vex hell. Most teams always fell to the Templar, few made it past to the Gorgons... Only one team reached Atheon.. No-ones ever destroyed the Time's Conflux.. Which meant that it could bring the Templar back."

"The Vanguard have practically forbidden any more attacks against the Vault. When the Fallen Wolves broke in, and the Taken corrupted it, things were alot easier, but I think it has something to do with Atheon WANTING us to deal with them for him. There wasn't a Templar, wasn't any Gorgons, almost no Vex at all protecting the Vault." Dawn expanded.

"Crota was a cakewalk compared to that, but I've heard from a Team that went to hunt Oryx down after the whole Regicide thing. Apparently Oryx isn't a joke. Death's Promise went to hunt him down and finish him off. Their last recording's mentioned something about a Warpriest. That's when they all died.." Storm's voice dipped slightly as he mentioned Death's Promise.

"Death's was a good team.. The Warlock never spoke though."

"From what Traken told me, BlackHole never spoke because his voice box wasn't fitted when he became an Exo."

"Traken was a good leader. I remember when we went up against Crota and his team were with us. We made such a good team. You think, if we went with them after Oryx, we coud've saved their lives?"

"I don't think so Dawn.. Death's went with Fire-Team Paladin. That team was the only three man Fire-Team to complete a Six-man mission. They were some of the best." Goldy sighed. "Nebula's brother was the Paladin leader. After I came back without her.. He never looked at me the same again." Storm hugged the Hunter close. "I wonder how much he hated me."

"He didn't actually hate you.. He just used you to direct all the anger towards. Afterwards, he regretted it, but never got chance to say sorry before he was called away on the mission that he never came back from."

"Ok, errmm.. I don't mean to sound rude and whatnot, but can we leave all the depressing stuff for the Tower? This is a nice night, let's not ruin it." The two nodded, separating, the Hunter's gaze fixating once again on the fire.

"Hey, Blue."

"Huh? Oh? Yes, Storm?" She was clearly caught off guard.

"How good are you at Sparrow-Racing?" The cloaked figure inclinded his head slightly in an almost cocky manor.

"Errm, I don't know?"

"Care to find out?"

"NO!" It wasn't even the female who cried out.

"Oh coooome oooon." One could simply imagine the Hunter pouting beneath his helmet.

"No racing. I do not want to have to listen to you going on about how your the goddamn bootleg Marcus Ren, no racing. None. Zip. Zero."

"Just one race?" He whined, almost sounding like a kid.

"No. If you're bored, why don't you play Cards or something?"

"Cards Against Humanity!" The Awoken looked at the human Warlock utterly confused, while the other pair seemed very excited.

"What?"

"You'll see. It's an old Pre-Golden Age thing, but it allows for so much fun when you got the good cards. It's one of the things I remembered about my life when I first came back. I got the whole Vanguard involved once.. Didn't go down too well. Zavala and Ikora don't seem to have much of a sense of humour."

"So.. You in?" The Titan looked at her expanctly.

"I guess so." She shrugged her shoulder's, moving around to the others.

"Great.. And let the rude, innapproriate, sometimes's offensive game begin."

~Cards Against Humanity~

Laughs, embarrassed sighs, dissapponited groans, all things to describe a game of C.A.H in a simple nutshell. Apologies of cards played occured atleast once every round.

"I'm so sorry." He was crying with laughter as he played his card, recieving a horrified glare from all three unmasked individuals. He wasn't sorry at all and they knew that, but it made him sound less evil after such a indecent card.

"Who designed this game?" Blue questioned, genuinely horrified of some of the cards she had seen be played.

"Someone who has no boundaries or morals?" Dawn struggled through his laughter.

"What does that say about us?" Gold was ever-so-slowly beginning to calm down, taking deep breaths while laughing.

"That's just... Gold you've won.. That card.." The Warlock, whom was the 'Card Czar' of this round had completely broken with laughter. "That's broken me man..." His face had gained a slight hinge of red, his breathing slightly heavier.

"Yes! Bea..." Storm abruptly silenced him by slamming his hand over the Hunter's helmet, muffling his voice enough that it went unheard.

"That's NOT something you just scream out!" He chastised, slowly removing his hand. "I swear.. For Guardian's we are probably the most immature group of idiots ever to grace the Light."

"Probably?" Dawn looked at his Warlock friend as if he had a third eye. "There is no 'probably' about it. We ARE the most immature idiots. The newbie's more grown up than us three combined."

"I'm only human after all.. Don't put the blame on me." Storm laughed, falling onto his back.

"We can blame you for somethings."

"Like what?"

"Like you're 'ten out of ten' friendship moment last week."

"Huh? Oh yeah that!" He broke down laughing. "I still haven't said sorry."

"What happened last week?" Blue questioned, staring curiously at Storm.

"Storm here, decided that the best way to be a supportive friend, was to tell a Guardian whose had a rough time lately that everything's going to get worse." Gold was staring at the Warlock, his eyes digging daggers through his soul, hidden beneath his mask. "Some friend you are."

"It was an accident!" He tried to defend himself, his body still racking with laughter. "I was trying to be helpful."

"How is telling someone things are going to get WORSE meant to be helpful?"

"It's not.." He choaked out, wiping his eyes. "Who wouldn't want a friend like me? Most supportive friend ever..."

"Has he even spoken to you since?" He slowly sat back up and gave the female a look that said 'what do you think?' "I guess that's a no. Can't say I blame him." Her tone betrayed her dissappointed expression, as she couldn't help but find it slightly amusing yet also very terrible.

"I meant well ok? I meant well.. I just y'know.. Made a small mistake."

"Small?" The Hunter commented in complete disbelief. "That was probably the worst thing you've ever done. Atleast there wasn't a completely heartless fool there to fix your mistake for you."

"I'm not completely heartless.. I just don't actually think half the time, I've said it countless times.. You must be truly desperate to come to me for help.. When it's like.. Not shooting things atleast. Honestly sometimes I wonder why anyone ever asks me for advice on anything that isn't killing related."

"You mean like your sister when she came to you for relationship advice and you told her and I quote 'Just break up and go solo. Loner's for the win, couples overrated'?"

"Yes." He nodded. "She was happier weren't she?" Dawn opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out and his expression slowly shifted into one of deep, intense internal debate. He smiled, rather smug with himself, the took deep breaths to calm himself.

"He got his own back though.. He stole an Exotic Storm found. You deserved losing that."

"Just as well, it was a Titan Exclusive." His face was still slightly red from all his laughing earlier as he collected the cards, storing them back in his Inventory. "Anyway.. What you guys wanna do now? This game has crossed too many lines." He chuckled. In the silence that befell them as they debated what they should do next, it was broken by the thud of boots hitting the ground a short distance from them.

They exchanged glances, Storm's hand worming it's way to Bad JuJu, Gold's resting on the handle of his Handcannon, and Dawn and Blue both gripping their Scout Rifles in their hands, resting them on their lap. On the silent count of three, all four members switched into battlemode, their rifles aiming directly at the source of the sound.

A shadowy figure stood, submerged in the dark of the night, cloaked with a glowing white light staring into their very souls. The figure made no move, not even for their holstered Handcannon, they just stood there, silent and staring.

"Who are you?" Storm growled, his finger resting on the trigger. This.. Thing, was definitely NOT a Guardian, but it looked just like a Hunter. It just stared in silence, yet despite it's midnight black mask, they could imagine an unnerving, evil smirk plastered on it's face. "Did you not here me! Who are you?" It still remained silent, infuritating and unnerving them.

The Hunter wasted no more time; firing a shot from his Handcannon, yet all four Guardian's stared in utter surprised as they effortlessly shifted out of the bullets path. Growling, he fired another two shots, both missing their mark. The figure pulled out what looked like a Ghost, transmatting away without a single word, until they patched into their comm channel and growled in a dark, violent tone.

"We're coming."


	18. Chapter 18: 2018 Christmas Special

**AN: This chapter (and the New's Year's Special if I do one) is outside of the main story, and is, in essence a Christmas Special with a tiny bit of 4th wall breaking (it's only going to happen during Specials) :) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Love all you readers, even my haters! :)**

~Tower, Earth, 24th December: CHRISTMAS EVE~

"WAHOOO!" Exclaimed a Hunter, throwing their fists in the air, celebrating the annual holiday that had befell them, his Warlock companion quickly following suit with his own cheer, recieving an eye-roll from his Titan and fellow Sunsinger.

"They always like this at 'Christmas?'" Questioned the Awoken to the taller human, who simply nodded with a smile.

"They're just a pair of kids deep down." He chuckled, gesturing with his hand to the Stormcaller as he danced ontop of the Cryptarch booth. Everyone at the Tower had adopted a more festive Shader, even Goldy had replaced his much adored Chatterwhite for an icy blue Shader, and all around the Tower, christmas lights hung, illuminating the home of heroe's in a range of different lights. Christmas decorations of all sorts, designs and sizes littered the normally bland plaza, small christmas tree's scattered in doorways and alcoves. "Not that I blame them. Christmas is something every Guardian holds close."

"How does anyone even remember it?" Blue questioned, for this was her first Christmas - atleast that she could recall. She barely even knew what 'Christmas' even was, nevermind what made it so special. Not understanding how to explain it, the Titan simply shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't know either. For Storm, he remember's it before he came back, but for the rest of us, it's difficult to explain how we first remember it. It's like an instinct." A fellow Titan walked up to him, wrapping his arms around the Defender in a hug, ruffling his hair.

"Merry christmas Dawn, Merry christmas Blue." He laughed cheerfully, hugging the smaller Awoken before walking off, continuing to spread the joy. Music could be heard coming from the Vanguard hall, where many Guardians had gathered to celebrate, many others grouping up in one of the many other large halls throughout the Tower. All across the Plaza, Guardians laughed, joked, even the odd few singing and dancing along to christmas songs. The Tower had even adopted a thick blanket of snow, many Guardians of whom were playing around in like little kids - nevermind the actual kids that had been allowed to visit the Tower.

Snowmen, Snow-angels, and eventually, snowball fights, something that became suddenly apparanet once Storm decided to hit Dawn in the side of the face with one. Laughing, he rushed off before Dawn could even throw one back, but from one single snowball, an entire snowball fight broke out across the Tower. "Here we go." Dawn laughed, ducking behind a snow barrier two Warlocks had constructed. Atop the centre Vault was a Hunter, cockily smirking and chuckling; dancing and effortlessly avoiding any snowballs that came his way.

Goldie had abandoned the Plaza, only to return a few seconds later laughing as Shaax followed him, a large snowball behind his back. He chuckled a sly, short chuckle, then threw the Snowball directly into the Vault Hunter's chest, offering a smug wave before running across the Plaza, snowballs flying left, right and centre. Dawn and Blue tried - and failed miserably, to fight their way trough to the stairs to meet Gold and Storm, both of whom were standing their throwing snowballs like there was no tomorrow at everyone.

"Hahahaha." Goldie burst into laughter once Dawn had finally arrived, whose hair was now looking as though it was made out of snow itself, and his armour covered in it. "You look like a snowman just got dropped on you. He promptly recieved a snowball right to the face, but it didn't break his laughter. They walked down the stairs, Dawn trying to clear off as much snow as he could, passing the seats and Guardians who played cards, wishing them a merry christmas as they went. Inside the main Hall, the Vanguard were where they usually stood, but sporting much more festive outfits. Cayde had even gotten a new cape, one he got as a present last christmas.

The Hunter's new cape was a bright red, decorated with green trimmings, and across the expanse of the cape was a small print of Santa's sleigh and the Reindeer. Ikora was simply wearing more red, and Zavala had allowed a few lights to adorn his armour, not as big on Christmas as the rest of the Guardians, but still he enjoyed the festive event.

"STORM!" Cayde all but screamed over the music and other Guardians, beckoning him and his friends over to a clear spot beside the Vanguard. Storm gave the biggest smile and wave to Zavala and Ikora, whom returned in kind, before hugging the Exo Vanguard as if they hadn't seen each other for a year, even though it was only two days.

"Merry christmas Cayde." The fire-team spoke all at once. "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Goldie followed up with screaming at the top of his lungs. Everyone cheered in response. The Hunter was still the only one with a helmet on in the entire Tower. Guardians all around the hall danced, laughed and joked, some sitting on one of the many sofa's and chairs that had been brought in, singing along to the christmas song: I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.

Every christmas as well, it had never been unnoticed that the Darkness decided to take a week off from causing problems for whatever reason - hence the partying. "Oh I wish it could be Christmas everydaaay!"

"When the kids start singing and the bells begin to plaaay."

"Oooh."

The trio of males burst into laughter afterwards, high fiving each other. Cayde handed the fire-team four small presents, then began laughing hard once they opened them, looking at him with raised eyebrows. "Aren't these our guns?" He nodded, laughin slightly. "And a ticket to get free Ramen.." Storm cocked an eye brow, smiling. "Ha, thanks." He briefly hugged the Vanguard for a moment, then jumped ontop of the table.

"All together now!" He shouted.

"Oh I wish it could be christmas everydaaay! When the kids start singing and the bells begin to plaaay! Ooohoh!" The entire hall began singing along, some Guardians even wrapping their arms around each others shoulders, forming a chain and swaying side to side. Admist the 'chaos' that was an entire hall full of Guardians singing all in sync, Storm, his team, the Vanguard, Shaax and even Amanda all rushed over to the window, turning to face the hall as one mystery Guardian decided to take a picture.

Zavala and Shaax stood on opposite ends of the group, Storm at the centre, with Dawn, Ikora standing behind him, Cayde and Gold crouched infront, and the other two girls standing beside Dawn and Ikora. A few extra Guardian's also joined them, two golden Titans whom stood at the back, a female Huntress who crouched infront of Storm, with their Ghosts all hovering by their respective Guardians.

 ** _"Merry Christmas everyone! And a Happy New Year! Love, all the Guardians and Flame of the Dark!"_**


	19. Chapter 19: Nothing's Ever Going Our Way

"We're coming."

"Well.. I totally didn't want to sleep tonight.." Groaned the Warlock, rubbing his temple. "I bet that's Zeppy, being a troll. Five thousand Glimmer it's Zeppy, or someone from his team. That was a nice Shader, wish I had it." He pouted, sitting on the floor, Bolt hovering infront of him, and the Warlock could only assume the Ghost was trying to frown or something of the form. "What?"

Before the Ghost could speak, something clicked within it's mechanical mind. "So how would Zeppy know we were here? This was an 'off-the-grid' mission as you put it. Especially considering you had me deactivate your Homing Tag and check their Tags were shut off as well."

The Warlock simply shrugged, still not seeing something suspicious about it. Bolt apparently wasn't aware these 'Homing Tag's' weren't even real, just something he made up ages ago as a joke. Well, they were real in a sense, but you couldn't just turn them off whenever you wanted. Only Vanguard had that power. Not to mention Ghosts could track a Guardians Light, Bolt forget they can do that? Probably. Storm lay on his back, staring up at the sky, his Fireteam taking seats, despite the other two unmasked Guardians appearing slightly on-edge. The Hunter, you couldn't tell with his helmet still on.

"Storm. How can you just be so casual? This is something the Vanguard need to know about." Bolt chastised the Stormcaller.

"Chillax, Bolt. Enjoy the peace while it lasts. This war's showing no signs of stopping anytime soon, might as well make the most of moments like this. We've got the evidence we came for."

"Exactly, and a bunch more unanswered questions."

"Calm ya bolts, Bolt. Just, let us enjoy this. In-case you forgot, we've been assigned a Vex Strike Saturday with Blue. That can take a day itself, nevermind holding the area and taking care of any other minions while we get whatever we need, and then the report. I wanna take advantage of a break like this."

"Look, Bolt, let us have atleast an hour or two more. Then we'll head back, yea Storm?" The Hunter offered a compromise. "Then, we'll talk to the Vanguard and get ready for this Strike. We have a deal?" Both sides reluctantly agreed to the compromise.

~~Tower, Earth, 2 Hours Later~~

After reaching the plaza of the Tower, the first thing anyone would notice was the somber tone that had befell their sancturary. Quiet, so so quiet, so few Guardians roamed the Tower. Remembering that he had to also speak with Amanda about his ships, as well as a favour she had asked of him, he quickly commented on his task, telling his team to go ahead and speak with the Vanguard.

He cast his gaze around the Plaza as his friends made their way to the Hall, counting all of the Guardians he saw. So few. Most must've been away on Patrol's, Strikes or in the Crucible, if not, then most likely resting in their quarters or assisting the Reef outpost. The train of thought he had accumulated was quickly thrown off when his eyes landed on a figure just like the one from the field. Unrecognizable armour, an emitting an almost.. lifeless vibe from the way it stood there, so still.

The Warlocks had slowly shifted to the handle of his holstered Sidearm, fingers gripping the weapon. Within the blink of his eyes, the figure in the doorway vanished without a trace. "Still think it's Zeppy?" Bolt sounded slightly shook from that encounter. An audible gulp was the only answer, before he violently shook his head.

"No, I'm just seeing things. I really need to sleep." He negated the evidence that he wasn't hallucinating that figure, continuing on his way to see Amanda. He greeted the odd Guardian he passed, as well as stopping by to briefly speak with the Dead Orbit leader.

"Hey, Amanda." Storm waved as he walked up the steps to her.

"Hey Storm, what can I do you for?"

"So, first thing, that favour." He handed her the frame she had requested for.

"Great, now I can finally get to work, I'll let you know if I need more help, you don't mind right?" She inspected the frame's condition before laying it beside her.

"Course not, and the second thing. Do you think you can take a look at my Space-Age Mariner? If it's not a problem of course." She inspected something on her notepad, humming in approval as she jotted down his name in an open space.

"Sure, this time next week. You got another ship?" He nodded. "Good, what's the situation with it anyway?"

"Thing got beat up pretty bad last Cabal Strike. Warp drive, shields and weapons are all fucked."

"What did you do?"

Storm laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I may have flew it straight into a Cabal base to blow up a Goliath Tank, and a Primus."

"Did you get either of those targets?"

"No." He laughed nervously, reluctant to expand. "I kinda blew up everything but those two. Including Gold and Dawn, and probably Blue if she was with us." The shipwright looked at him, one eyebrow raised in mild amusement, and her face trying to portray her dissappointment in the Warlock, but also hide the amusement she found in this. "I've never heard Goldie curse so much. Apparently I blew up a Legendary Engram he was about to collect while Dawn was Reviving himself."

"Maybe you should stick to ground combat from now on and let the specialist deal with air combat."

"That's probably for the best." Bolt commented, hidden from sight. "Now, sorry Amanda but we must see the Vanguard."

"Ok, Bolt I'm going. So, is that definitely ok. If you need anything contact me." She simply nodded, gesturing with her head for hi to get going. Waving goodbye, the Warlock hopped over the railing, his boots clicking as he landed on something he never expected. Looking down, he noticed a Havoc Pigeon Legendary Sidearm, discarded on the floor, magazine next to it and the bullets scattered around, some casing's empty while others not.

He crouched down, running his hand along the scratches on the Sidearm, when his attention was caught by Bolt. "Storm." Was all it's voice squeaked. The Warlock noticed a mist suddenly surrounded him, hiding him from view, but apparently, no-one else saw anything. He stared back at the gun, following the direction it faced to see something that shook him.

What he saw wasn't something he was overly scared of encountering, but within the Tower Hanger? Now this was a different story. A small, Taken orb similar to those Probe things he saw back on Phobos, or during Operation Regicide. Those small, white lights that fly away so quickly, just like now. It was there for a single second, then it zoomed out of sight. He rushed to his feet, breaking out the mist he quickly made his way over to the Vanguard Hall.

~...~

"Cayde, I'm telling you. There was someone sniped in The Old Valley. I'm not joking. I saw the identations. It was female, Warlock, rough estimation of her age based on the size of the mark, about, twenty-nine. Sniper round, High-Caliber, probably LDR 5001 or 1000 Yard-Stare rounds."

"It could've been anything Gold, no Guardians have ever been sent to The Old Valley. Ever. What were you guys doing there anyway?" Cayde done the Exo equivalent to raising an eyebrow.

"Not important, look I'm telling you. Howl, show them the HUD captu.." Zavala quickly silenced them all, a grim expression on his face.

"We'll have to finish this later. We need you to complete your Strike now. New intel suggests the Vex are alot closer than we originally anticpated. This is top priority right now Guardian."

"Shit." Was all the Hunter growled, rushing off the find Storm, the other two close behind. "Storm! Strike now. The Vex are alot closer than intel originally said. We'll have to finish Vanguard report later."

"I swear it's like the Darkness does this shit on purpose to fuck with us." They transmatted aboard their ships; co-ordinates set, they took off through Warp-space. "Zavala, situation re-cap."

"The Vex are a threat to us on Venus, and ultimately the other planets, even without the Minds. On that note, we've discovered a possible Vex super-unit, one that must be destroyed immediately. Guardians, if this Vex is sent into battle, Venus will already be lost, and Earth will be next."

"So get to it Guardians and turn that robot back into scraps." Of course Cayde wanted to have something to say.

"Copy, we're coming out to Venus now. Far side of the Ishtar Sink. Location?"

"Just follow the Vex energy signatures, we can't pinpoint it with the amount of readings we're getting."

"Understood, but Zavala, we need to finish the report immediately."

"I understand, but keep focused Gold."

"Yes sir." Gold ended the conversation. "Transmatting."

~~Venus, Northen Hemisphere, Far Side of Ishtar Sink~~

Transmatting onto the surface of Venus, the fire-team of four instantly loaded their weapons with full magazines, rockets and the like, checking their Inventories to ensure spare ammo synth's were stored away, active and waiting to be used. Dawn had adopted the Legendary Auto Rifle 'An Answering Chord' in place of his normal Omolon Scout Rifle, with Gold exchanging his current Sniper for a more effective LDR 5001.

Inspecting the surroundings to find it devoid of the anticipated Vex resistance, Storm mumbled, "Guys, do any of you ever feel like the Darkness just loves to fuck with us half the time instead of just straight up kill us all?"

Gold laughed "It's just a prank?"

"No, but I mean.. Sometimes it's like it knows what we're trying to do so it fucks around and gets in the way. Like the report, the Vex were two weeks behind where they are no, and the first report came through two days ago. Not to mention something that I needed to tell Zavala about."

"What?"

"A Traveler forsaken Taken Probe in the Hangar." He noticed the other's tense heavily. Without a second Gold contacted the Tower.

"Zavala, check the Hanger. Now! Storm says he saw a Taken Probe Orb there. Check the sercurity systems and everything." Gold recieved nothing in response, save for Zavala barking out orders to the Tower.

"First Shrouders now Taken? I ain't even going to risk jinxing it. Let's get this Strike done." The other three nodded, mounting their Sparrows, they boosted off through the empty ravine towards their objective. Nothing, no Vex, no Fallen, no Taken. Absolutely nothing defended the ravine like intel suggested.

Now, you'd think, "Oh, no enemies, things are going our way for once" when you go speeding through a long narrow ravine for hours on end, nothing trying to shoot you and kill you, but, when you remember that said enemies are defending a powerful super weapon, and 'can warp across Star Systems in an instant' and then you'll probably be like "Oh Shit! We need to move!" Yea, really need to move.

~~The Vex, Vampire's Lair~~

It had been a long, long, drive, with a few fire-fights against Taken groups as they got closer to their destination, but the Guardians had finally arrived at the Vex's super unit hideout. "So, what'd you reckon? Minotaur? HobGoblin? Hydra model?" Dawn loaded two rockets into his launcher.

"I call Hydra model." Blue replied, loading a fresh clip into her Sniper.

"Nah, Minotaur." The Hunter sat upon a rock, twirling his Handcannon as he waited for the others to be ready.

"I reckon a good old HoboGoblin." Chuckled the Warlock, placing his sword back on his back.

The female sighed, "It's not called HoboGoblin."

"I don't care, I read their tag wrong in the Archive and called them Hobo's ever since."

Dismounting the rock he was perched on, Gold led the way inside; with a quick trigger finger, he dispatched the two Harpies with precision. Another Harpy came from the side, Blue tearing it apart with a Sniper round straight to it's eye. Three extra Harpies quickly appeared behind them, another two coming from the opposite side.

"Would've had a better chance if they came all at once." Chuckled the Warlock, tearing apart the two side Harpies with his Bad Juju, Dawn dismantling the other three with his auto. They stood there for a few seconds, expecting more Harpies but none came; proceeding through the narrow caves, they dispatched any Vex or Taken that got in their way before reinforcements could be alerted.

"So many Taken here." The Titan grabbed another Psion, slamming it to the floor and shooting it point blank in the face.

"No kidding." The cloaked figure kicked another Psion in the face, digging his knife into it's chest.

"Do those Vandals EVER stop making shields!" Blue growled in utter frustration, extremely pissed at the two Tortured Vandals that constantly summouned their little bubble shields and healing from them. "Die already!" She sniped the same one for the third time in the head, it surviving the impact and casting ANOTHER shield. "Oh for Traveler's sake!" She headbutted her sniper in utter annoyance.

Storm cut down a third Thrall with the Dreadfang, switching back to his Bad Juju, he and the other two helped Blue deal with the Vandals. Three mags, four rockets, alot of cursing and one Golden Gun later, the two Taken Vandals were finally dead.

"Refill your ammo. I feel like we going to hit a big ass battle other side of this cave."

"I'm guessing your going off of the hundreds of explosions on the other side to make that assumption?" Storm nodded, smiling beneath his helment at the Titan. Loaded up, they made their way through the narrow cave, effortlessly killing the few Goblins who guarded it. At the other side though? Storm was very right.

First: it was a big battle, Taken and Vex clashed all over the area. Second: it actually was a HobGoblin model super unit. "Well, what do you know?"

"Boast later Storm, we got Axion Darts incoming." They shot the incoming Void projectiles, rushing around to cover. Two Warlocks on the left, Titan and Hunter on the right, a shit tonne of Vex and Taken in the middle. "We need to deal with Oryx and his Echoes quick. These Taken are getting to common of an enemy. There are so many Cabal ones."

"Blue, Gold, up there, Sniper's perches." He pointed at two well protected areas from which they could snipe with alot of cover to hide behind. Clear those HobGoblins from up there. Dawn, three o'clock, great space for a bubble. Draw fire, I can then Stormcall them. Use your Snipers, keep hitting the Super unit. Goldie, when you can, Golden Gun that robot."

The trio quickly moved into action, the two Snipers jumping into their spots, shooting the limbs off the HobGoblins stationed there. Taking cover, they rested their Snipers on the rocks and began taking shots at the larger HobGoblin. Each shot bounced off it's thick armour plating, but dealt damage none the less. "This guys got some tough armour."

Dawn jumped into the open, casting his shield as alot of enemies diverted their attention to him, opening Storm up to his chance. The arc funnelled into his fingers, and he unleashed it in chaining torrents of Arc energy, destroying everything but the super unit. "That worked better than I expected." Dawn laughed, taking cover behind a rock as the HobGoblin destroyed his shield.

"I know, now, let's finish this thing off. Rockets! Now!" Two rockets hit the large Vex from two different sides, leaving large dents in the armour. They exhausted all their rockets, sniper and most of their primary, before Gold summouned his Golden Gun. All theee shots landed in the centre of the chest, the unit falling to it's knees temporarily. To all their surprise, it rose back up and began spraying wildly with it's Torch Hammer, before a Vex storm cloud surrounded it and it dissappeared admist the smoke.

"Oh... Oh for Light's sake. Zavala. The Vex unit managed to escape. We're coming back now to give a full report. There were alot of Taken swarming this place as well. Any luck with that Orb in the Hanger?"

"Negative, we've spent the whole day searching the Hanger for anything out of the ordinary, and sent out emergency messages to the City Sercurity and defence teams to search the entire City. No signs of Hive or Taken anywhere. We'll have to keep on edge Guardians. We can't lower our guard for even a second anymore. The Darkness is too close for comfort. Get back here and we'll discuss everything with the Speaker."


	20. Chapter 20: The Fallen Baroness

**AN: So, just before this chapter starts, I just wanna mention that there will be some text that is essentially representing the Fallen speaking in their own language. I have a.. Semi reliable translator source for some words, but if anyone knows a good location/site/video that has alot of Fallen-English translations, please let me know, otherwise I'm just going to use what translations I do have access to and, if I can't find anything anywhere, I may have to improvise some translations. I'm going to do my best to translate the Fallen at the end of the chapter. Aside from that, enjoy and rate and review :)**

'How did everything go so wrong?'

Mangled flesh, charred corpses, broken equipment. Everywhere they looked, nothing but loss surrounded them.

'How did we lose so many innocent lives so quickly."

Walker's and Pikes lay in smoking, burning ruins throughout the Sancutary, bullet holes adorning the armour and flesh of the Fallen who once stood beside them in defence of their people. Embers of fire still licked and clawed at the foundations of the structures and vehicles, thick columns of smoke and ash rising into the sky above.

'How were we meant to defend? They tore through them all like nothing.'

Only Devil's lay dead all around, some bodies huddled and piled in groups as big as twenty Eliksni, all burnt, torn apart. Drained of their life by the Void, scorched by the Solar, electrocuted by the Arc; evidence of explosions, grenades, Tank shots and rockets alike scattered the fields, yet, no major evidence remained of any foes. No King's lay dead, no remants of the Hive, nothing, nothing but the faint remants of Taken energy. The Fallen stood no chance at all. Even with the Walker's, the Reaver's and Nobles, they didn't stand a chance.

"Skolas was right." She flicked her attention to the speaker, a small Dreg of her troop who crouched beside dead bodies of innocent Eliksni, tracing the smallest droplets of Taken essence that remained as the marking of their killers. "The Fallen can not stand up against the Taken as separate houses."

She snarled, approaching the Dreg, Ninikas lifted him to his feet and stared threateningly into the Dreg's terrified expression. "Mention Skolas once more, and I will dock your other two arms." She growled, releasing her grip upon his neck. "Skolas would have all us slaves to the Wolves. He only cares for himself."

"My Lady" One of her Captains stepped forwards from her troop. "The Dreg is right. The Fallen cannot continue to fight the war against the Taken without allies. The Civil war between the Houses has left us vulnerable."

"Then what do you suppose, Captain?"

"We talk with Drakois. He is the only one Nixails will listen to. We must arrange for the Devil's and the Eliksni who live under our protection to flee the System."

"We will not run." Ninikas took a challenging step closer to the captain, the two elites glaring at eachother beneath their masks. "Unlike you, I still have hope."

"Hope for what? For the Taken to kill us all? Do you side with the Fallen or the enemy on this Ninikas?" The captain stepped even closer, their helmets mere inches from each other as the Baroness didn't back down before the large male infront of her.

"Do not try to intimidate me, Captain." She refused to even call him by his name as she stared up at him, unmoving. "You may be bigger than me, and I may not yet have fully grown to the size a Baron would be, but I will not hesitate to kick your ass for accusing me a traitor to my own kind. So back down, before I take you down." She clenched her fists with a dark growl leaving her vocals, practically daring him to continue. Her trust in the Great Machine still caring for them was making her hated by her own Troop, but she just knew they couldn't give up and run.

Storm's warnings of Guardian patrols, his noticies of strikes being arranged against the Devils had been tirelessly useful in saving many lives. The small notes he had written in Fallen - probably helped by his Ghost - had always reached her in time to relay the the Higher Commander's and save countless Devils from the fate of meeting a Guardian in the fields. Whose to say Storm was not doing more to help the Fallen than simply write these warnings for them at the Tower? Surely, the Guardian, who just so happened to be the only reason Ninikas had hope for the Eliksni left, was doing, or atleast working on, something to help them repel the Taken threat.

Unlike before, the Captain did not back down under the intimidation of his Higher Commander, and instead clenched his own fists and snarled back at her. "Do not challenge me. Vi gu drass ma." He snarled darkly in their own tounge.

"Chu do gu. Ne ra re hosh vi." She rebuttled in Eliksni, taking a step away from him, she turned her back on the Captain in a manner meant to shame and belittle him.

"Chu hosh ma. Do gu drass kir Vi" He snarled, not wanting her to demean him before the Troop and instead achieve the opposite effect by making her seem weak by refusing the fight. The Troop around could feel the growing tension between the two higher ranking Fallen, the very air itself seemed to burn and spark with the rivalry. "Char faur asukt asma" At this, the female swiftly turned around, throwing the Captain onto the ground with surprising speed; unsheathing her Shock Blades, she pressed it close to the Fallen's neck before he had even processed what had occured.

"Do not speak of my father." She growled, the blade uncomfortably close to the Captains neck. "Think yourself lucky I have not already removed your head, Captain." The Captain held no fear in his posture or expression, figure and muscles still tensed from the tension and desire of battle. "Chu hoor di. Ko." The Captain, without hesistation refused her command to bow before her, instead, he pushed her away and drew his own Shock Blade.

"Ne re." He snarled, and instantly the Troop shifted away to give the two fighting individuals a wider space, not wanting to be caught in the conflict that would ensue. The Captain assaulted the female with a barrage of heavy blows from his blade, all of which she blocked or evaded, making no strike in retalliation.

"I do not intend to kill you. Bow and I will spare both your life and rank."

"I intend not to bow before an female who didn't even earn her place. We have abandoned many of our ways in this War. I will not allow you to defile a place or honour with your herecy to Eliksni-kind." The Captain lunged for her, only to find himself grabbed and hurled into the shell of a destroyed Walker, the flames that still engulfed the vehicular husk licked at the Captain as he crashed into them, scorching his armour and scaled skin. Recovering himself, he locked blades with the Baroness, his extra weight and strength proving useful against her; brought to her knees under his power, she crashed her lower two fists directly into his chest, denting the armour.

Not expecting the blow, the taller male stumbled back, lower hand clutching where she had struck him, he unsheathed his second Shock Blade; the air around him seemed to burn with his anger, and he slashed both blades at her side. Without chance to parry, they made contact with her side, the sound of the impact echoing off her Baron armour; thankfully said armour absorbed most of the strike, but her Arc shield got completely fried.

She simply snarled in frustration before grabbing the Captain, punching him in the stomach before crashing her helmet against his in a series of headbutts. Under her disorienting assault, the Captain struggled to fend of Ninikas as she continued to relentless beat his form into submission, ignoring the use of her blades entirely. With a firey need to win, he powered through her assault, ramming his knee into her stomach, he winded her when her armour collapsed in on itself, digging uncomfortably into her undersuit and skin. Now it was his turn.

Throwing his Shock Blades to the floor, he charged into her, pushing her directly towards a pile of wrecked Pikes, he threw her into the vehicle remains. Roaring in a mix of rage and pain, she rushed at him only for the male to throw her onto the floor, straddling her he delivered a series of heavy blows to her helmet - strikes so powerful part of her helmet cracked and broke away, exposing her head beneath. As she shielded herself from his continued onslaught, using her lower arms, she unholstered her smaller dagger, ramming it directly into his chest, digging straight through his armour and into the flesh.

The Captain grimaced, trying his best to ignore the pain flooding from the wound, he continued his assault, breaking apart even more of her helmet before his strength began to fade. Refusing to succumb to his weakening form, he continuued to batter her, before he felt a second dagger dig into his chest, damaging his Ether supply. His strength began to betray him for weakness; soon he couldn't do anything to stop her from throwing him off.

As he lay there, choaking and gasping for Ether, the victor rose back to her feet - she stared at the defeated male with a mix of pity and regret, her visible eye glowing in the self-hatred she felt towards becoming another ruthless, merciless Baron. She heard the confusion admist her Troop; why had she not executed him? Was she planning to shame him before the Kell? Questions of that nature. One of her two remaining Captains approached her hesistantly, questioning her decision.

She didn't answer, instead, she turned her attention towards the Troop and spoke in a distant, but still commanding voice. "Keep him alive." Was all she said, turning her back on her weakened, defeated foe. Bad move. The second she wasn't looking, the Captain revealed his Shock Pistol from behind his back, firing three shots at her.

She turned almost instantly, but didn't react in time to avoid them, each projectile impacting and releasing a powerful discharge of Arc energy. The conductive element of her armour didn't help, as the Arc flowed through it, short-circuiting her Ether system, as well as seeming to have a similar effect on alot of her nerves. Her legs gave out beneath her; collapsed to her knees, three of her arms went limp at her side, the fourth one she revealed the Infernus, firing a single Solar projectile right at his head. The burning shot killed him almost instantly; Ninikas fought against her own body to get back to her feet, aided by two Vandals as she gasped desperately for Ether.

"Get her aboard the Skiff and take her back to the Lair. They can fix help her there." One of the Captain's ordered the two Vandals, turning to face the dead captain, he stared at the corpse in disgust. "We'll finish our assignment, then I'll talk to Drakois and the Kell." The two Vandals nodded, helping the weakened female back to a Skiff, she quietly ordered them to stop; doing so, they gave her the chance to glare challengingly at the other two Captains.

"Do not even think about it. I will report to Drakois and Nixails personally the second I am able to." She snarled, obviously untrusting of her Troop to speak on her behalf. She didn't need to be shot to know her Captains wanted her gone. "If you speak of this situation to anyone. I will personally have you executed infront of many Fallen. I'm not dumb enough to know you will try to have me removed or killed." Even if her completely ineffective state, the Captain's knew better than to test her patience or kindness to her Troop. Being so close to the Archon did have it's perks afterall.

 **AN: The Fallen Translations:**

 **Vi gu drass ma: Foe cower before me.**

 **Chu do gu. Ne ra re hosh vi: You will cower. I none challenge fear foe - I do not challenge someone who fears me.**

 **Chu hosh ma. Do gu drass kir vi: You fear me. Will cower before strong foe - You will cower before someone stronger.**

 **Char faur asukt asma: Your father shall shame - Your father shall be ashamed.**

 **Chu hoor di. Ko: You face death. Bow.**

 **Ne re: I challenge.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed. Reviews are heavily appreciated. Until next time.**


	21. Chapter 21: The Archon

~Ninikas' POV~

 _"...Were the weak to look upon our strong, and watch as they fall so easily, hope would fade for the Eliksni's survival. I will not allow that... I, Drakois, will not allow the Eliksni to become only a race of mention. I will not allow us to go Extinct. Were our children to see their mothers, fathers fall; were our Soldiers to see their leaders collapse, we would fall victim to destruction. I will not allow that.. Not as a Dreg, Vandal, Captain, or Kell would I let the Fallen fade. I ask unto all Fallen of Devils this one thing, trust in our Faith, trust in the Great Machine, trust in each other... And we will walk out through this Dark Night we all face.. Lot Urka Chu ar."_

The Archon's words echoed throughout the Skiff, before all went silent once again with the Skiff. It was still a struggle for me to do anything after the Arc blasts, but some of my strength had returned now that I wasn't struggling for Ether. The onboard Servitor was a Sha, a gift, in the more common tounge of the Fallen. There were few Fallen who spoke the older tounge, Skolas, Taniks, were some noticeable ones. Drakois and I could speak some words, but we mainly stuck with this tounge. The older language was hard to learn when fewer and fewer Eliksni spoke it.

"Lot urka chu ar." Meant 'Blessing upon you all' and lately it had been something Drakois had been saying more and more frequently. He wouldn't tell me anything, saying that it was classified to the Highest of High Fallen, Nobles, the Kell and himself, but I knew whatever was going on was grim. We'd already had one Sancturary attacked, and now we had lost a second one.

Aboard this Skiff sat those two Vandals who had aided me back here, and two of the only survivors we had found. Two children, one was thirteen in human years, while her younger brother was only five. We picked them up at our insertion point, hiding, crying and cowering under a thin piece of metal. The girl had suffered the loss of her lower left arm, and the boy would not be able to walk without a prosthetic right leg after the horrible injury he had sustained. It sickened me to my bones. Even after fighting in this war, seeing my troop have their chests punched straight through by a Knight, or their heads and limbs ripped off infront of my very eyes by a horde of Thralls, the sight of someone so young facing bearing those wounds was heart-wrenching.

They were both asleep now, their wounds had been treated as best was possible, yet one of the Dregs who watched over them had commented that the boy had kept asking about their parents.. I don't know who their parents are, but I'm almost certain they were admist the many corpses we found.

Before I knew it, the Skiff had came to a landing within the Devil's main lair, two Vandals helping me out of the Skiff while another two carried the children. Fallen of all different ranks had gathered around, waiting hopefully for good news. Their worst fears were confirmed the second the girl was carried out. Whimpers, angry shouts, curses in both common and old tounge. One of the Nobles didn't even bother getting a report from me; the sight of me limping and being carried by two Vandals told him everything he would need to know about my mission.

'Betrayed and failed' was basically becoming a second title to me, he was the third Captain who had been assigned to my troop in the past month. Honestly I don't know why they keep assigning our fewer and fewer Captains to my troop, I'm better off working alone at this rate. If what Drakois had said is even remotely true, then I've had more Captains under my command in one year then his had in ten years. Another, older and more experienced Baroness walked up to me.

"Just for the record, I warned you about me getting betrayed." I gestured weakly at myself with my upper hands. It was her who suggested the Captain who betrayed me be assigned to my team in the first place. She shifted, her lower hand resting on her hip as she adopted a slightly cocky pose.

"Yet you're still here. You really are fucking invincible Ninikas." She kept her tone strictly professional.

"It's not hard when you know one of your Captains is planning on stabbing you in the back first chance he gets. Now what'd you want?"

"Can't a girl come say hi to her friend when she gets back?" She asked, a little more playfully this time.

"Not when that girl is you, the Baroness whose well known for her anger issues and refusal of accepting anyone as anything more than a fellow soldier." I bit back the actual distaste I had for her, remembering she had her reasons for both her anger issues and her refusal of forming any type of relationship. If the fact practically half her body wasn't made up of prosethics and mechanical didn't atleast give someone an idea of why, then their just dumb.. No way around it. Like seriously, this girl's entire left half was all robotic.

"Drakois wants to see you, so I suggest you hurry the fuck up." Ahh, there was her more well recognized violent tone I oh so loved, god I was starting to get worried. If you didn't realise, that was goddamn sarcasm. As far as I'm concerned, this girl is a good shot and a good blade, but she really had nothing else to offer.

"Yeah, I don't know if your robotic eye needs recalibrating, but I'm kinda in a fucking mess right n- SHIT." 'FUUUUCK! A metal fist ramming into the side of your skull hurts! Like, hurts a-holy-shit-fucking-lot!' Why the fuck did I mention her eye? Dumbass.

"I'm sorry... What the fuck did you just say?" Her upper left fist was already clenched ready. She completely shattered the helmet with the first blow, she hits there again and it's lights out for me.. I hate losing but I know when I'm beaten.

"I-I-I'm so-sorry.. But recalibrate your eye." I muttered under my breath, thanfully it went unnoticed. She stormed off, allowing me and the two Vandals to continue walking towards the Healing centre.

"Ninikas, I swear you have more guts than any nornal Fallen should have." One of the Vandals finally commented when we were a fisr distance from her's truly.

"Either that, or I'm just really fucking crazy. Both ways suit me if I'm honest though."

"You need to stop messing around and provoking other Fallen, especially her."

"I know she's a Baroness, but she seriously needs to chill the fuck out. She's not the only Fallen with prosethics."

"She's the only Fallen whose fifty-percent robot though." Oh, that's probably a fair point. "I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure would ever so slightly allow for her reactions to be like that. Not to mention she was abandoned by House Wolves." I decided not to respond to that, knowing he made a vaild point, instead, I simply requested that I be carried directly to the Archon. Healing can wait.

The walk was long and silent, perhaps half an hour later we had arrived at our destination, which was only ten mintues away from the Healing centre. Limping, can barely breath, walk, all that. Unable to actually bow before them, I simply inclinded my head in a gesture of respect.

"Chu rurrender yu." I dared not look up at him out of respect. He was my uncle, but my Archon first, and as such demanded the same level of respect. I couldn't get away with family perks.

"Va." He stepped up from his seat, gesturing finally noticing my condition. "What happened?"

"I was betrayed, Great Archon."

"Why am I not surprised?" He huffed, heavy with dissaproval. "You hold too much faith in the Great Machine... Too much. It causes rifts between us and you Ninikas."

"Archon, I believe in the Great Machine, I trust in it that it will save us from our doom. Do you not?"

"Don't mistake this for me not trusting in the Great Machine, understand that you hold out too much hope. You hope for the Great Machine to actively save us, believe that it will not let us fall. It causes distance, I trust in it too Ninikas, do not mistake that... But I trust that the Great Machine will guide us through this war, not fight it for us. Enough of this, I am waiting for your report. I half expected another attempted betrayal." He paused as his voice dropped in decibles.

"Archon?" I questioned him, finally raising my head to look at him.

Drakois sighed, seemingly in dissappointment. "Ninikas, you offer much potential as a warrior, but I have spoken with Nixails... Even he believes that you are becoming unfit to lead a troop. We have agreed that should one more case like this be discovered, you would have all command stripped from you, or be banished from House Of Devils."

Normally, I wouldn't lose my temper with anyone above my rank, but even this ended with me growling - quite threateningly - at Drakois. I could understand perhaps removing my Rank and power, but banishment? "Banishment?"

He nodded. "Yes, banishment. I have argued against Nixails in banishment, urging him to only consider your removal of Rank and all military related operations."

"Seriously? Even though I have helped save countless patrols?" If I wasn't relying on two Vandals to hold me up, I would've been standing alot closer and staring Drakois down - well up - right in the eyes, as it happened, I could only do that at a less impactful distance. "Some fucking system that is. Punish a girl whose saved more lives since her promotion than anybody else has."

A resounding thud echoed as Drakois took a powerful step closer to me, his larger figure shadowing me and the two Vandals completely. They were shaking in both fear and awe, I was trying my best not too. He was slightly taller, and much broader and well built, than Nixails or Riksis, our past Archon, ever was. "Ninikas, do not test me. I love you, do not doubt my care for you, but you know as well as I do I must put the House before anyone. I have argue tirelessly with Nixails about what should occur."

"Well?"

"We have agreed, banishment will occur as the last resort, removal of Rank and military relation will be the next step. For now, going into effect immediately considering this recent incident, you are no longer authorised for lone deployment with your troop."

"Are you serious? You're fucking babysitting me?" I would've screamed if my voice wasn't do weak.

"What would you prefer? Many of your operations have had their results greatly decreased because of your strained relationships with your troop. If we have no other way of ensuring your missions are successful, then yes, we are going to 'babysit' you. Do not challenge me." The authority in his voice left me with no room for arguement, but he could feel my displeasure radiating off me. 'They were babysitting me... ME! I don't need them, I can handle myself! Just fuck off... Wy doesn't anybody believe in ME?'

"All that talk about believing and trusting in each other yet nobody believes in me." Was all I muttered.

"If there was a better way I would choose it, but there isn't. Prove to me and Nixails we are making the wrong decision and that you are capable of controlling your troop and this will be reversed... Otherwise, you are dismissed."

"Lot urka chu, Drakois."

"Lot urka chu, Ninikas."

 **Fallen Translations:**

 **'Lot urka chu' - Blessing upon you.'**

 **'Chu rurrender yu.' - You summounded mine/me.'**

 **'Va' - Yes'**


	22. Chapter 22: Traitor

_"Fallen of House Devils, I bear grim news in these dark times we face. High Baron Valnisir, has been Taken. I know you are scared, but stand strong, and hold to your wills and hearts. The Taken will not Take us. Stealth Reaver Noble Ithilia has fallen to a Hive onslaught, and the She'lot's have killed the Noble Ariks. I sense the fear you hold with you Devils, but we will not let this destroy us. We will unite, and together, we WILL survive the Darkness."_

~Ninikas' POV~

I stormed out of the War-room without hearing another word they would speak. Of all the no good for nothing... ARGH! I had only just recovered from the betrayal, and guess what? They're already babysitting me! When Drakois told me who my 'babysitter' was, I nearly punched him, but not wanting to face the consequences, I settled for creating a rather nice dent in the table before storming out.

I wasn't even waiting around for one of them to come out after me, I just went straight back to my quarters, threw myself onto my 'bed' if it could even be called that, and screamed pure rage into the cloth. WHY! Why in the Great Machine's name did they choose her! Of all the Barons they could've assigned, they assigned the one Baroness who I genuinely hate, the half robot who nearly knocked me out two days ago when I laughed because her lower arm short-circuited.

I swear, I wasn't even laughing at her, I was laughing at a joke a Dreg made and it just so happened to be so poorly timed that I got a nice big, metal fist ramming into my helmet - that, might I add, had only just been fixed, now it's sporting a nice little fist decal.

Honestly, everything is just so... So.. Arsuckr-Rir. Cursed-Life. It's a Old Fallen insult, not something you should say to any Fallen who understand the Old Tounge. Uncle say's Old Tounge curses and insults like that are used when challenging and dishonouring and all that. I wanted to test the theory so I called a Captain a She'iruk, way back when I was a Vandal.. He broke three of my arms and my leg within a minute. Don't call a Fallen a Thief of Honour, unless you want to truly piss them off.

'Now their just TRYING to get me killed' I mused softly. It wasn't a secret me and her didn't get on well AT ALL. Like I said, all she is to me is a good shot and a good blade. Not my fault she was shunned by the Lo-vos Mi. "Enter." I growled after hearing a knock upon my rooms door.

I jumped straight up to attention, kneeling before the Archon and even the Kell himself when they entered. I wasn't allowed to even speak in the presence of the Kell, lest I be dishonourable. Only the Archon could speak freely. "Care to explain your unauthorised self-dismissal from the War-room.. Baroness?" Growled Nixails, a voice so guttural I had to supress a shiver.

"My deepest apologies, Ge.." I had chosen to refer to the Kell in the Old Tounge, for it was deemed more honourable than the common tounge title that the Guardians also used, Arsuckr-Rir's." "My anger had blinded me, I did not trust my actions, and saw best to depart before unintentional harm be caused." I was fixated upon staring at the ground.

"Rise, Baroness." I did as told without any hesitation, expecting a punishment, I braced myself. Nothing came. "Your frustrations I understand, we have all been within your predicament at some point in our military life, but you should not have acted so dishonourably." He growled. I noticed he and Dra-Archon, share a glance, then with a nod, Archon spoke.

"We have decided to give you ONE final mission to prove yourself worthy of leading. We expect the mission to be completed to the very best outcome possibly. Should ONE incident occur related to the Loyalty of your troop, then we will put into effect your Co-Deployment. Do not make us regret this, Ninikas." They left without even waiting for my response. I simply stood there, confused as to why they were deciding to give me this chance, then someone walked in who I didn't expect. The Baroness meant to be my 'babysitter'

I scowled at her, to which she returned twice as harshly, then she spoke with a voice of relief that betrayed her hatred-laced expression. "You can thank me later, shirr."

'Ok, one.. How fucking dare she call me a shirr, and two, she's the reason their giving me another chance alone? Now I'm just confu-oh nevermind, she does hate me afterall. "One, I'm not a shirr." She shrugged, and I bit back the urge to return the insult. "Two, you mean YOU'RE the reason I get one much chance."

She nodded, making herself comfortable against the wall of my room. I sat back down upon my 'bed' looking at her confused. "I gotta admit, I like your fire." She actually chuckled! Who is this imposter? "Yes, I am the reason. I spoke with Drakois and Nixails, enough bitching and moaning was enough to get them to agree with me. I don't wanna work with you, shur." Make your mind up already, are you my friend or are you my biggest hater in existence.

"Well, thanks?" I honestly wasn't sure whether I should say thank you, she did just call me the equivalent of 'bitch' in the Old Tounge.

"If you wanna thank me, make sure you don't fuck this up. I didn't bitch, whine and moan to them for nearly an hour about how I'm not working with you to get them to give in for it to be wasted."

"Did you actually 'bitch, whine and moan' or is that exaggeration?" She looked at me like I had just asked a stupid question.

"Of course it's exaggeration. They're the Archon and Kell, I have to show respect. You have no idea how difficult it was to convince them. Do you know your mission?"

"No."

"Rouge Target, Assassination or capture and return: Rouge Captain Arxhli, leading insurgent teams of King's Vandals and Dregs to steal supplies. Capture Arxhli is preferred outcome, assassination or execution acceptable. I'll be commanding a second team to reinforce security at the next supply target, as well as Nakaniks, and Varnsis."

I nodded, showing I understood the mission.

"When is he planning to move next?" I crouched down, dragging my gun's out from under my bed. Infernus holstered on my right hip, with my Shock Rifle on my back, Wire-Rifle equipped.

"You got two hours to set up your troops, Varnsis will be covering left flank with Nakaniks on right flank into supply room, we'll be stationed on the central entrance. We need you to either take him and the Insurgent's out ahead of time, or cut off their escape. Remember, if possible, take the Captain alive." Nodding, I offered her a genuine smile of gratitude.

"Thanks... For letting them give me a chance." She glared at me.

"I didn't do it for you."

"Course you didn't. Everything you do is for yourself." I muttered, walking past her with a slight scowl. I did hate the fact she was always doing everything for herself. War wasn't a place for a selfish little... Shirr like her. Look, I respect her as a soldier, but as an Eliksni, I really don't like her. Maybe it's just the war... Maybe she's actually somewhat tolerable. I'd never know. If I'm honest, the way she was dealing with everything.. I don't expect her to survive the War.

~...~

Two hours... Any minute now, the Insurgents and Arxhli would turn up for the supplies. Nakaniks, Varnsis' squads were in position on their respective flanks. I had set up my team on either side of the corridor, weapons drawn and ready. I was going to prove to the Kell and Archon I was capable. Admist my team were two Stealth Vandals, stationed further up to track them from behind.

We were far from any main Fallen encampment, where the supplies had been transferred for pickup by another traitor. It didn't take much for the Dreg to break and confess to it. It was old human building, worn heavy by war and decay, but still structurally stable.

"Targets sighted, thirty seconds out."

"Remember, capture the irukles if you can. Kings Fallen casualties are expected. No survivors."

I readied my Shock Rifle, initiating the Arc shield of my armour; we waited, and waited, but they didn't move any further. Silence, uncomfortable silence followed, as not one Fallen made a move to battle. Eventually they carried on, walking past my Pack. "Targets have passed Pack, ready to engage." I whispered into the communications frequency we were using.

"Affirmative, fire when ready, Varnsis is bringing her Pack round behind you to reinforce, Nakaniks is moving up with my team now." Spreading out into the corridor behind them, we loaded our weapons and took aim, just as the two Packs defending the supplies met them in the doorway.

"Captain Arxhli, you have been found a traitor by working with the Kings against Devils. Surrender, or be executed." My rifle rested against my shoulder, his head within my sights. The Kings, and the traitor Devil quickly took up defensive positions, readying themselves for battle.

"I don't think so, She'iruk." Challenged Arxhli, stepping through the Vandals to stand at the front of the group facing my Pack. "You are nothing. You aren't even a true Baroness. This how low the Devils have truly fallen? To rely on She'iruk's like you." He unlatched his own Shock Rifle from his back, taking up aim at me. On an unspoken order, the King's opened heavy fire against both Packs; caught by immediate surprise, none of us were able to avoid the heavy barrage of Arc projectiles as they crashed into us.

Many Dreg's and Vandals fell instantly, fueling myself with rage. Throwing my weapon onto the floor, I charged straight into the enemy with my Blades equipped, cutting down four Vandals effortlessly, then in a quick succession, I disarmed Arxhli, snapping his weapon over my knee, before throwing the Captain into the wall.

He growled, unlatching his cloak, he then drew his own Shock Blade. He lunged straight at me before I had chance to react, his blade crashing onto my right flank with an echoing cling. Our blades clashed against each others in a series of violent swings, before I was forced to divert my attention to the surrounding Kings as threw Vandals with Blades also joined the fight.

Here I was, fighting off four foes in the middle of a firefight without any cover to hide behind, honestly, how I hadn't yet been hit by stray friendly fire was an unknown but welcome fact. Parrying a Vandals strike with the armour of my lower left arm, I roughly yanked the blade from his grip and impaled him with it, before severing the head of a second Vandal in rapid succession, the third one dying to a Wire-Rifle hitting her heart.

Quickly we were destroying the Kings, the last few surrendered to spare their own hides, leaving only the Captain, surrounded by atleast twenty Fallen still standing. He glared at myself, Varnsis and Nakaniks, holding both his blades across his chest - challenging us three directly. "I'll kill all you." He charged at Varnsis, sheathing his blades and grabbing the female Captain by her upper arms, he crashed his helmet against hers, disorienting her before grabbing her and ramming her against the wall, breaking away part of the structure.

Next, he rushed at Nakaniks, who quickly reacted unlike Varnsis; grabbing Arxhli mid-lunge, he slammed him onto the floor, crushing his lower right hand completely with his foot. A howl of pain filled my ears while I was helping Varnsis back to her feet, and I turned to notice a small dagger in Nakaniks right leg while they were sending punches back and forth.

Varnsis gathered her composure and her weapons, rushing at him as he drew his own blades again. She stopped as he swung at her, locking blades before kicking him in the stomach. Now was my turn. Charging at him, I leaped into the air and crashed my elbow into his face, sending him stumbling backwards. I charaged again, falling to my knees and sliding under the sidewards slash he made in retalitation, feeling the pierced wind brush against my armour. My own blade dug deep into his leg, then I rose to my feet quickly and made a light cut down the length of his back.

Nakaniks had recovered from his injury, rushing up behind Arxhli, he grabbed him with all four arms and threw him straight into the wall with extreme force; leaving cracks and chips in his wake, Arxhli refused to be defeated - fueled by rage and Ether, he charged at Varnsis again, targeting the weakest member. I jumped infront of him, taking the blow that otherwise would've killed the Captain girl, parrying the outstretched blades before ramming my own deep into his leg.

Varnsis came round from behind me quickly, digging her own blades into his other leg, before Nakaniks crashed his fist against Arxhli's face, forcing him to the ground. I nodded at them, before speaking into the frequency.

"We've captured Arxhli, and King's Vandals and Dregs. We request a Skiff for transfer and retrieval of supplies.

"Understood, a Skiff has been dispatched. Head outside with the prisoners."

"Affirmative my Lord.. It'll be done." Nakaniks mumbled under his breath, thinking I couldn't hear him but I did. I paid it no mind though, instead, I simply led the way outside. That's when I felt something was off; I heard the cocking of rifles behind me, and had no chance to react before feeling a barrage of Arc crashing into my back. I collapsed to my feet, falling onto my back and gasping desperately for Ether. Nakaniks simply stared at me, then walked away with all the other Fallen. The only ones who didn't walk away was Varnsis and old robo-girl, Maekis.

I felt my sights begin to go dark, while Varnsis and Maekis both kneeled at my side. I could read their expressions, both were full of actual shock and surprise. I coughed violently, my hearing and sense's fading to nothingness. "Ninikas, hang on, I'm contacting for reinforcements and emergency medical evac. Don't close your eyes. Maekis, keep an eye out and cover us. Let's get her back inside."


	23. Chapter 23: The War To Come

"Cloak... I'm picking up multiple Taken signatures approaching."

"How many?"

"Ermm... About two thousand."

"What? There's never been that many.. There wasn't even that many on that Strike against Sepik's Lair. How far?"

"They're.. already here.. Cloak.. NOW." She didn't need telling twice, cloaking herself and Ninikas, Varnsis having already done the same. Wave upon wave of Taken marched past, Taken of all type, all origin, an army practically on the Tower's front lawn. Cabal, Hive, Vex, even Fallen brothers and sisters of many Packs. For the first time in her entire military career, spanning nearly all her life since she was first enlisted at 18, nearly twenty years ago, Maekis genuinely held fear in her heart.

They had never been able to withstand small Hive and Taken forces, but one of this scale - they turn their glowing eyes to the Devils and atleast half the House will be wiped out before they finish the fight. Just a single Taken Captain was equivalent to atleast five of Devil's Reaver Noble's, and there's atleast three hundred of them right there.

She then noticed more signatures, Hive one's walking to meet these Taken, though their numbers were only a fraction of the Servants to Oryx. It was dead in the centre of the doorway when the Taken parted, giving Maekis just enough space to see the one at the head of the Taken force meet with what she assumed the leading Hive Knight.

"Ur Arukkir.." Growled the leading Taken in a tounge she recognized. 'Convenient' She mused. Before the Knight even had a chance to respond, the unique Taken form grabbed the powerful Hive and punched it straight in the head, shattering part of it's natural crown. Maekis gulped down her panic and fear. Hive Knights did not break as easily as this one, it took atleast five bursts from a Shrapnel Launcher to even leave a permeanent mark, not a simple punch.

He then forced the Knight back onto it's feet before releasing it. "You're Shrouder's have failed."

"Failed? My Lord, they completed their goal... They infiltrated the City without alerting the White Sun or the Guardians."

"Ha, the Traveler is weak.. Too weak.. The City, the Guardians and their precious Light is weak. One of the Lord's very Probes has infiltrated the Tower. Wait... I sense..." There! Fallen scouts!" The Taken's leader pointed directly at the cloaked Fallen. "You know your mission... Knight.. Don't fail Oryx. Now kill them!" Instead of staying behind, a vast majority of the Taken left with their leader, though the force that stayed behind was still too much for the two Fallen to survive.

"You heard him! Kill those scouts!" There were still atleast five hundred collective hostile signatures, about four hundred and fifty of which were Taken. She steadied her breathing, cocked her Rifle and swiftly unloaded the entire charge into the approaching Hive and Taken force, each shot landing a clean kill on the first wave of Thralls. In the time it took her to reload, Varnsis had dispatched a second group.

They continued to fire at the Hive back to back, not leaving enough of an opening in their assault for the Hive to get closer. Atleast, until they ran out of all their ammo and were forced to rely on their blades.

"Two verses four hundred.. I always liked a challenge." She chuckled, twirling her blades and thanking the Great Machine neither of their cloaks had worn off yet. The half robot took the lead, flawlessly killing two Acolytes, before dispatching a Taken Vandal without any difficulty. Varnsis was very close behind, cutting down the enemy as best she could as they both used their stealth fields to their advantage.

Why none of these could find them when they're literally stabbing them all one by one but the other leader could so easily baffled the two but they weren't questioning their luck. While luck was with them, energy was definitely not. They hadn't even had much chance to recover from their previous skirmish.

It took them hours, but with most of the enemy dead, and their energy drained completely, they collapsed to the floor after finally being caught. Once their shields and stealth fields were down, it didn't take the Hive Knight less than a minute to completely destroy the pair of them.

"C'mon then... Finish it Raksli." Maekis spot, using a pretty degrading old Fallen term.

"No.. I think Oryx could use a pair like you in his army."

"I'd rather die then serve your freakshow of a zombie. So kill me already." She glared challengingly at the Knight as he towered over her, Sword in hand. They still hadn't found Ninikas, and since she wasn't rushing around in a battle her stealth field would last way after these Hive had already moved on.

She prepared herself as the Knight raised it's blade, and she waited for the strike that never came, instead, when she opened her eyes to look at what was taking her killer so long, she saw something she never expected to see. A young girl Captain of House Kings dueling with the Knight, and effortlessly cutting down any remaining Hive. While the two fighters were completely distracted with each other, Maekis struggled to her feet, and, with help from Varnsis, collected Ninikas and escaped unnoticed by the King Or, so they thought.

"Nice, now... C'mon big guy, let's see what you really got."

Chuckled the Captain, twirling her Shock Blades with flawless fluency. Parrying the sideway's slash from the Hive Cleaver, she charged up and unleashed a powerful discharge into the Knights midsection when her blade collided with it, sending a small shock to run through the Undead's body, then, the Knight did the unexpected and struck the female with her own Arc blades energy.

The Knight then delivered a powerful kick into the Captain's stomach, sending her tumbling along the ground a short distace before coming to a halt. She shook her head to rid the slight daze she had been knocked into, and quickly charged at the Knight once she was back on his feet. Parrying the strike, the Captain used the Knights strength and weight against him by suddenly removing her blade, causing the Hive warrior to stumble forwards.

After being banished from the House of Kings for letting a Guardian survive and escape certain death, the young female had to learn quick to continue surviving. She had met Storm on a few occassions since their first encounter at the Sanctuary, and had secretly learnt some tricks to surviving against Hive threats such as this one. This was ignoring ALL the survival tricks she learnt from her own Warlock companion in the Valley.

She performed a X shaped slash against the Knights back, ducking under his retaliating swing before slashing both blades diagonally across his chest. The Knight growled in anger at the mere fact he was losing to a... Vash Nurgor. She swung at him again, only to stare in surprise and fear when he grabbed the blade and yanked it from her grip, throwing it far to the side, then, with a heavy strike, completely knocked the other blade flying from her grip.

She charged at the Knight unarmed, evading the downwards strike he made and delieved a large series of kicks and punches to the Knights chest, stomach, sides and legs. The perks of a Captain's ether status meant that she could actually fight a Knight unarmed and win with enough skill. Something she had attained alot of. Elbowing the Knight in the face, she grabbed the Knights head with her upper left arm before delievering a powerful punch directly into his face with her upper right.

The Knight stumbled backwards with a growl, before dissipating admist a green vortex-like sphere that formed around him. "Ha, he ran." She made her way over to her blades, retrieved them and sheathed them on her hips, before activating her cloaking field and dissappearing into the distance.

~...~

The Skiff had just returned from collecting the teams sent to capture the rouge Captain, and the first thing Drakois noticed was the lack of the Baroness' Maekis and Ninikas, as well as the Captain Varnsis. He addressed Nakaniks without any delay, a dark growl in his throat.

"Why do only you return, Nakaniks?"

The Captain bowed before the Archon, head lowered in respect as he addressed the Archon with a tone of fake regret and distress. "Noble Archon... Ninikas, Maekis and Varnsis did not survive... We were ambushed after defeating the rouge... They bought us time, at the cost of their own lives. Noble Archon... My Lord, they perished in Honour, Honour of the House of Devils." The Captain had two excuses planned, but knowing how close the Archon was to Ninikas, the second would only get him into trouble.. Calling them traitors.

It was difficult to lie to the Archon after all he has done for the House, but his orders came from his Kell, to be carried out in the name of the House. No Fallen, no matter how much they've done for the House, will stand in his line of duty for the House.

Rising to his feet, he bowed his head a final time in respect before departing from the hanger to his quarters. Once inside, away from prying ears he opened a secure channel on his frequency-regulator. One of a different source to the Devil's frequency.

"My Lord... It is done, and Drakois suspects nothing. Ninikas has been disposed of, with the added bonuses, Varnsis and Maekis are also dead."

"Good, resume to your duties. You know your next mission." Ending the communication, he growled softly, pulling a Shock Blade from beneath one of the weapon racks. Facing it downwards, he pressed it to his chest and gripped the handle woth all four hands.

"Great Fallen of Devils past... Know I only act to protect our race... This House MUST fall, Wolves must rise..." Once he finished this mission... The Wolves and Devils would go to all-out War... With Winter and Exile both already under Skola's command... Devil's would fall.. Rising in the Wolves. Either way, he would not live to see the glory of one united Fallen House.


End file.
